Forgotten Pasts
by DarkRonin117
Summary: What if Tidus wasn't the only one from Zanarkand to be sent to Spira when Jecht attacked? Stree and his sister, Kam, were also brought, but they were lying low until Sin was beaten. But Stree has a couple of problems with Tidus...
1. Fight

I do not own FFX or FFX-2, or any of the characters from the game. They belong to Squaresoft/Square-Enix. I do however, own Stree and Kan, and the other characters that are not originally from the games.

The eight Sahagins surrounded him, swimming with quick bursts, trying to put him off guard. Refusing to let himself get distracted, Stree Kry'tal grabbed his sword, the Graviton Hammer, and let himself sink through the water a little. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Stree saw one of the fiends attack. As it pushed itself quickly through the water, Stree spun himself around and swung his sword in a wide arc, slicing the monster cleanly in half. Seemingly sensing that his attention was focused on the now-dead monster, the others seven rushed in all at once, Smiling, Stree propelled himself upwards through the water. Not quite quick enough to follow, the seven Sahagins all collided, making a loud cracking noise that echoed even through the water. Stree swum lazily for a second, laughing silently at the disoriented fiends, them swam back down and finished them off. Shaking his head in slight disappointment, Stree swam back to the surface. His head broke through the murky water surrounding Baaj Temple, and pulled himself out and onto one of the many stone paths hanging overhead.

"Having fun?" he heard a low voice behind him.

"Not really," replied Stree. He stood up and turned around, putting his sword back onto his back as he did so. He faced the person who'd talked to him, a young blonde with black streaks through her hair, and smiled. "There's no challenge here." The blonde, Kan, pursed her lips.

"You need a life," she said. Stree smiled, and wiped his mid-length dark-brown hair away from his eyes.

"I need a challenge. Ever since we came to Spira, there hasn't been one person who could face me in a fight." Kan smiled, then turned and walked back to the airship sitting just behind her.

"You know, I heard that there's a fighting championship in Luca in a few days. Maybe you should enter," she said as Stree followed her through the entrance. Stree walked over to the bathroom and grabbed a towel, then took off his vest, shirt and sword, and started to wipe the mud from his finely muscled body.

"I don't know. There's probably no challenge there either." Kan laughed lightly, and threw one of Stree's shirts over to him.

"I don't know," she said as Stree put on the shirt, then put his vest back on. He decided to leave his Hammer on the table near him. "I heard that the swordsman who helped defeat Sin is going to be there."

"Uh, Kan, you may not know this, but Auron passed onto the Farplane when they defeated Sin." Kan cocked an eyebrow at Stree, her lips pursed together.

"I know that, you idiot. I meant the other swordsman." Stree narrowed his eyes.

"Tidus." Kan nodded. Stree turned and walked quickly to the bridge of their airship.

"Hey!" shouted Kan. "Where are we going?"

"Where do you think? We're going to Luca. I have some unfinished business with Tidus."


	2. Tidus' New Life

Tidus sat on the jetty next to Yuna, who was resting her head on his shoulder, and stared out across the calm waters surrounding Luca. In the couple of months since Yuna had defeated Vegnagun, Tidus, who had been wandering Spira trying to find her, had finally met up wth Kimahri, who told him where she was. They had met up again, and Tidus explained that because the aeons had returned, he was brought back too. Only the Fayths had made his return permanent. So they had moved to hire for a while, to one of the few places in Spira where Tidus and Yuna were comfortable. They stayed out here a lot, just watching the sunsets. Out of the corner ofh is eye, Tidu noticed another airship come flying across the horizon. It didn't really interest him, but he watched it anyway. Suddenly, he felt Yuna's head lift away from his shoulder.

"It's the Gullwings!" she cried. Tidus squinted, and then he could make out the red coat of the Celsius. Yuna stood up and dragged Tidus to his feet. "Thye must have heard about you entering the tournament. Oh I wonder if they brought Wakka and Lulu with them? Oh, and little Vidina!" Tidus laughed as Yuna turned and ran into their house. He turned and followed her in, coming out of the front of their house just as the Celsius landed. The entrance door opened, and Rikku came bounding out, followed by a lot less bouncy Paine. Buddy, Brother and Shinra, brought up the rear, along with Wakka and Lulu. Tidus looked closely, and and saw Vidina snuggled up in Wakka's arms. Everyone greeted everyone else, and in a matter of seconds, Wakka had lost Vidina, who ended up with Yuna.

"So, I heard you're going in the fight tournament, ya?" asked Wakka.

"I haven't had much to do lately," replied Tidus. Wakka nodded.

"Oh, you have to stay with us," said Yuna quickly. Tidus tapped Yuna on the shoulder.

"Yuna, we only have three bedrooms." Yuna looked thoughtful for a second.

"I know, one bedroom for Paine and Rikku, one bedroom for Wakka and Lulu, and Brother, Buddy and Shinra can sleep on the ship right next to the house."

"WHAAAAT?" cried Brother. "Out on the ship?"

"Got a problem with that?" asked Tidus, his voice dropping dangerously low. He hadn't like Brother much ever since he found out about the crush he had on Yuna.

"No, nononononononono." Brother turned around and walked back to the ship. "E tuh'd pameaja drec..." Tidus smiled and turned back to the rest of the visitors, and invited them in for dinner.

Stree stood on the deck of the ship, watching as the bright lights of Luca grew brighter.

"_Soon, Tidus. Soon, I'll see you again. Then you can pay for what you did."_ He looked down at his feet. _"Not that you'd probably remember."_ He looked up again and watched the clouds for a second, before turning and walking back into the ship.


	3. Worries

Tidus stood in the water next to the house, watching the tides, mentally preparing himself for the upcoming tournament.

"Interruptin' anything?" came a voice from behind him. Tidus jumped, then turned around, with a goofy grin on his face.

"Not really," he said as Wakka jumped into the water.

"Watcha doin'?" Tidus fell backwards and started floating through the water.

"I don't know, but I'm getting another one of my bad feelings."

Wakka ducked underneath the water, and grabbed Tidus, dragging him down. Tidus escaped and swam back to the surface, spluttering loudly. "Loosen up, ya?" Waka laughed loudly, then swam to the edge of the water and grabbed a blitzball.

"Come on, let's play." Tidus smiled, then shot forward and took the ball from Wakka's outstretched hand. He ducked under the water, just noticing a huge black airship pass over them.

Kan looked up at Head's Up Display as she piloted their ship, the _Shadow Stalker_, through to the air docks in Luca. She found an open space, and expertly put the ship down. Sitting back, she keyed the intercom for the training room, where she knew Stree would be.

"Ready to go, Brother?" She heard a thupping sound as Stree continued his assault on a punching bag.

"I'll be out in a second," he said after a few seconds.

"Where're we staying?" Kan looked over at a note she had pinned up. "The Farnan Hotel. Room 128."

"Got it. I'll be there later."

Kan shook her head slowly. "_I knew I shouldn't have mentioned Tidus to him."_ She thought to herself as she moved to the cabin and grabbed her suitcase.

He slipped through the dark streets of Luca, staying in the shadows to avoid any contact with other people. With what he was carrying, that would be a very bad thing. He smiled to himself, then continued on his way to the sphere stadium. He slipped up the steps, and moved around to the sphere control panel. He ducked down, and took a small brown package out of his pocket. He opened up the panel and slipped it in, making sure the small antenna wasn't being obstructed by anything. He then closed the panel and made his way quietly to one of the support struts of the stadium. He took out another small package and strapped it to the strut. Smiling to himself, he made his way to some other places, attaching the packages to them.

"_Ohh, tomorrow is going to be fun!"_ he thought to himself.

Sorry, it's a little short, but I want to get to the tournament. If you any readers want to have a character of there's enter the tournament, then just send me a name, a vague description of what they look like, and there weapon of choice, and I'll try to put them in.


	4. The Signing

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Spira's First National Warrior Tournament!" Fireworks lit up the night sky as Stree walked quietly through the packed streets. Vendors hoping to sell their wares yelled out to him, but he ignored them and continued on his chosen path. He reached the sign in desk and wrote his name down. The woman at the desk watched him intently, trying to catch a glimpse of his face.

"Planning on entering the tournament?" she asked, trying to get him to show his face.

"Would I put my name down if I wasn't?" replied Stree. The woman, apparently put off by Stree's attitude, hmphed. Stree finished the form and started to turn away, but stopped when the woman called out to him.

"Hey! You have to hand in your weapon!" Stree turned around.

"I have to what? I'm not going to hand my Hammer to anyone until every fiend on the planet is wiped out. Even Luca's not safe until then."

"Sorry, guy, but rules are rules." Stree turned back around. "If you don't surrender your weapon, you can't compete." Scowling, Stree took off his sword and jammed it into the ground, the walked off. As he walked, he bumped into a big man with some sort of armour on his shoulder.

"Hey!" said the man. "What's with you, man?" Stree turned around to face the man. He was dressed in the uniform of the Besaid Aurochs.

"Who are you?" asked Stree, trying figure out where he knew the guys face.

"That's Wakka, one of the people who helped defeat Sin," came Kan's voice from behind Stree.

"Really?" Kan grabbed Stree and turned him around, and forced him to start walking away.

"Wait until the tournament." Stree glared at her as the two of them walked away from the Auroch.

"What'd you do that for?" he demanded as they turned the corner.

"Because I know what you would've done," replied Kam easily. Stree glanced sidelong at her, then turned around and started walking back in the direction he had just come. "Stree! No!" cried Kam, giving chase. Ignoring her, he continued on his path and walked right up to the hulking man, who was now talking animatedly to a young-looking girl with long braided blonde hair.

"... I said no, Rikku!" The girl – Rikku – crossed her arms and humphed.

"Why not? Vidina's as safe with me as with anyone else!" Wakka shook his head and rubbed his temples.

"Rikku, around you, nobody's safe!" Rikku glared daggers at him, then turned and walked off. Wakka turned around and found Stree standing there, a faint ghost of a smile playing across his face for a second. "What d'you want?" asked Wakka angrily.

"I just wanted to meet you properly. My sister sort of dragged me away before." Wakka turned and stared at Kam for a second, then turned back to Stree.

"Yeah well, some people are strange," he said, with a bit of a smile on his face.

"Hey!" said Kam.

"Friends of yours, Wakka?" asked a soft voice from behind Stree. Stree jumped and spun around, his hand slipping to the now empty sheath on his back.

"Lu, meet...uh, what is your name, eh?"

"Stree Kry'tal. Pleased to meet you, Lulu," said Stree with more happiness than he actually felt.

"So, Wakka. You entering the tournament?" asked Kam. Wakka shook his head.

"No? But you defeated Sin!" said Stree, before he caught himseld.

"Yeah, but then he went and got fat!" cried the bubbly girl from before. A young man with an eyepatch over one eye and a roguish look all over him came up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Eh! Who you callin' fat?" yelled Wakka, reaching out to smack her upside the head. With a squeak, she ducked, then bolted, Wakka starting after her. Stree smiled, then stepped back from the growing group.

"Hey, do I know you?" asked the one-eyed man, staring closely at Stree.

"I don't think so, I'd probably remember you."

"Oh. Well, the name's Gippal."

"Stree. Well, it has been fun meeting you all, but I have to fight in the morning, so I should probably get some sleep. Everyone, I bid you farewell." With a chorus of goodbyes, Stree bowed and left, with Kam following close behind. Once they were almost at the hotel, Kam grabbed him by the arm, and spun him around.

"What in Yevon's name did you do that for?" she cried. Stree stared coldly at her for a second, then smiled.

"My father had a saying. 'Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted'. I thought I might get to know my enemies."

"And did you learn anything?" Kam said coldly.

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you," Said Stree, turning around and walking inside.


	5. Round one, Fight one

Round 1: Tyler Lowan V Yojimbo 

_ Stree Kry'tal V Todd Miscail_

_ Tidus V Mako Faldiér_

_ Lars Dungenin V Cid Tonstan_

_ Auron V Faloss_

"Tell me, Kam. Do you know anything about this Todd Miscail guy?" Stree turned away from the listing sphere and turned to his sister.

"Not much. He used to be some big shot with the Crusaders, but was drummed out after he lost it and went after one of his superiors."

"Oh great, I got a psychopath first up." Kam smiled and walked over to the sphere. She tapped the first line.

"Let's go watch this match first. Probably be good for you to work out the fighting style of the winner for your next match." Stree nodded.

"Your right. Let's go."

Tyler Lowan walked towards the center of the fighting arena, and drew his weapons, two hatchets, with extremely sharp blades. He turned to face his opponent, a man dressed in a black samurai gi, and a black-and-white-mask covering his face. Through the slits, Stree noticed a red glow pulsing out. Stree turned to Kam.

"Bet Yojimbo wins this." Kam raised her eyebrows doubtfully.

"And how would you know that?" Stree smiled.

"He has the look of a real warrior. Oh, and that big-ass sword he has could also influence events." Yojimbo started going through warm-up exercises, spinning his sword in his hand. As he started moving, it got faster, and faster, until it was only a blur. Suddenly, Yojimbo himself started spinning around, turning himself into a blur. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped dead. "Impressive." The two men in the arena turned to face one another, and engaged in a stare down until the announcer introduced them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Please welcome the firs two contestants of the Spiran Tournament! Yojimbo and Tyler Lowan!" Lowan waved to the crowd, while Yojimbo continued to face down his opponent. "First, I'll explain the rules. First is, you can use as much force as you want, provided you don't kill your opponent. If you touch the arena walls, then you are out. If you are down until the count of ten, you are out. Now, ladies and Gentlemen! Let the games begin!" a roar filled the crowd and Lowan shot towards Yojimbo like a rocket. He brought up his axes and slashed full force right at Yojimbo's chest. Just before he made contact however, Yojimbo deftly sidestepped and brought the handle of his sword down hard on Lowan's back. The man dropped to the ground, then flipped forward onto his feet, bringing his axes around to cover his back just as Yojimbo struck. He spun around, and lashed out at Yojimbo's leg, just grazing the other man who had jumped back. Suddenly, Yojimbo slashed out at thin air. Lowan didn't even have to move to avoid it. Stree looked closely and saw that Lowan wasn't even moving at all. "Threaten," he mumbled to himself as he watched Yojimbo start spinning the huge sword as he had done at the start of the match. He started spinning himself as well, but this time he started moving around the arena, like a small cyclone. It was only as he neared Lowan that Stree realized what Yojimbo was doing. Suddenly, a loud crack filled the arena as Lowan went sailing thorugh the air, and hit the wall with a thud.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think the winner of this one is obviously! Yojimbo!" the crowd erupted in yelling and cheering as Yojimbo turned and walked out of the arena. Stree turned to face Kam.

"Smart ass." Kam looked up at one of the huge video spheres surrounding the arena, and noticed that it was calling for Stree. "You'd better get moving." Stree nodded, then turned and walked over to the reception desk, a grin on his face.


	6. Stree's Fight

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Second fight of Round One! In case you missed the first one, Yojimbo gained a stunning victory! Visit the sphere theatre if you want to buy a copy of the match. But now, onto the second match. We have Stree Kry'tal, versus Todd Miscail. Let's see if this match will be as good as the last one!"

Stree walked out into the gigantic arena, and watched the crowd erupt into applause. He strolled over to the center and awaited the arrival of Miscail. When the doors on the other side of the arena, even Stree was amazed at the sight of the hulking man that walked in. Standing over eight feet tall, he was easily the biggest man Stree had ever met. Stree analyzed every aspect of the human behemoth as he made his way to the center. His apparent weapons of choice were gloves with spikes set into the knuckles. He wore light looking clothes, so as to not hinder his speed or movement. He also had several scars running down his cheek. He finally reached the center, and stared down at Stree with a withering glare. Stree returned the look, not showing any fear whatsoever.

"Begin!" shouted the announcer.

Stree grabbed his sword and jumped backwards, just as Miscail swipe out at his chest. Stree swung his sword as hard as he could, but caught only air.

"Wow, fast, aren't you?" remarked Stree at the man.

Miscail smiled, then ducked off to the side, then let fly with a huge fist. Stree dodged the fist, and brought his sword down on the arm. But Miscail reversed, and swung the side of his arm right into Stree's chest. Stree let out a 'humph' as all of the air left his lungs and launched him flying through the air. He hit the ground and flipped himself backwards, back onto his feet. Miscail grinned and lunged forward and swiped at Stree. Glaring, Stree brought around his Graviton Hammer in a strike so hard it left a flame in the air, and nicked the massive man across the face, causing blood to fly across the ground. Miscail growled, and aimed a punch straight for Stree's stomach, but Stree dodged, allowing Miscail to push the spikes right through Stree's left hand, making two of the three metal spears snap right off his glove. Ignoring the wound completely, Stree jumped and twisted in the air in a frenzied attack that caused Miscail to slip backward and start tripping up. Suddenly, Stree stopped dead, and started talking to himself in a low voice. Miscail stared at him, then stepped back in disbelief as the Graviton Hammer started glowing. Miscail stepped backward, then jumped as Stree yelled and swung the sword with all of his strength. The big man stood there in shock as the sword passed through the front of his stomach, blood spilling everywhere. He dropped to the floor, then remembered that he carried several potions, and so used one on himself, then stood back up, a glare sweeping across his face. Growling, Miscail just barely registered the deathly quiet from the crowd as he launched himself through the air, trying to spear tackle Stree. Stree ducked and rolled onto his back as the big man flew over him. Stree braced himself, then kicked his legs straight up into the man's stomach, and flipped himself backwards, sending Miscail straight into the wall directly behind them. The big man bounced off it, and got back up onto his feet, and grabbed Stree by the throat.

"You shouldn't have made me mad, puny man!" yelled Miscail, as he reared his fist, and shot forward. Stree's expressionless look melted off his face, and was replaced with a look of cold, barely restrained fury. He judged where the fist was going to land, then, to everyone's amazement, he brought up his own hand and caught it, allowing the spikes slide right through his hand, next to the other two. Everyone in the crowd gasped as one when they realized that Stree didn't even seem to realize that his hand had been skewered. Shocked to the point of paralysis by the senseless maneuver, Miscail didn't even move as he saw Stree bring his sword up with his unskewered hand. Suddenly realizing what Stree was going to do, he started trying to move away, but Stree held his hand in place.

"No!" yelled Miscail as Stree swung his still-glowing sword straight through the big man's arm, slicing off his hand at the wrist. Miscail screamed and fell to the ground. Stree sheahed his Hammer, then, as if realizing something was sticking through his hand, pulled out the spiked fist and threw it onto Miscail.

Hard.

The fist stabbed straight through his shoulder and pinned him to the ground, making him scream again. Then he grabbed another of the two remaining spikes, and threw that into Miscail's other shoulder. He then grabbed the third one. He stared at the sobbing hulk, then threw the last spike up into the air. The crowd watched in horror, waiting as it twirled in the air, sunlight gleaming off it, mocking beauty. It dropped back down, aiming straight at Miscail's groin. The crowd gasped, as, less than three inches from making contact, Stree snatched it out of the air and threw it into the wall on the opposite side of the arena. Then, without saying a word, Stree turned, and walked out of the arena. The ring announcer simply stood there in shock, as did the rest of the crowd, then gradually realized that Stree was gone, and started to speak, although it was in a voice so small that is barely registered on the microphone.

"Uhh, ladies and gentlemen, the winner, Stree Kry'tal." One or two people started to clap slowly, as if not sure whether to applaud or throw up. Some had already made the decision, as sounds of retching could be heard in the stands. Medics came out and grabbed Miscail and pulled him into an emergency transport. "Ladies and gentlemen, we'll uh, be taking a short recess, then we'll be back with the next fight."


	7. Tidus' Turn

"Did you see that, man? Wow, I haven't seen anyone fight like that since, well, ever!" exclaimed Wakka as he and Rikku watched Stree exit the arena. Rikku just stood there and stared at the quivering lump on the arena floor that was Todd Miscail. "I mean, he just let his hand get stabbed, and, and then cut off the guys hand!" continued Wakka, waving his hands around everywhere. Rikku turned around, and Wakka heard the sound of retching. He then turned to his left and saw Lulu holding Vidina in her arms.

"I don't think we should let Vidina watch any more of that man's fights," said Lulu in an emotionless voice that Wakka had come to realize she used when she was scared and angry. He nodded and then turned to see Tidus enter the ring, and unsheath his Caladbolg.

Tidus stood in the center of the ring, and watched is opponent, Mako Faldier enter the ring. The man walked right up to Tidus and grinned, showing all of the three teeth in his mouth. Tidus grinned, then stepped off to the side and spun around, smacking Faldier in the side of the head with the flat of his sword. Faldier stumbled, then fell onto his back. "Come on, you can do better than this, can't you?" taunted Tidus. Faldier growled, then stood up and tried to stab Tidus with a sword of his own. Tidus laughed, dodged again, then knocked him in the stomach, then in the head, knocking him out. Tidus grinned at the prone corpse at the announcer counted to ten, then turned and jogged out of the ring.

Stree stood up in the crowd and watched as Tidus took apart Faldier in the space of ten seconds, and smiled. "Guess he's as strong as you thought," remarked Kam, turning to Stree.

"Looks like it."

"Still going to fight him?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"I know, but do you?" Stree turned to her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you've spent so much time hating Tidus, that maybe you've forgotten why you started hating them!" Stree stared at her, trying to fathom what the hell she was talking about, when she turned away.

"Stree, I could forgive Tidus for what he did to me, why can't you?"

"It wasn't just what he did to you, there's more to it than that!" yelled Stree.

"Then tell me what that 'more to it' is!" yelled Kam back in his face. Stree was just about to yell again when he looked around and saw everyone staring at them. He glared at them and recognizing him from his fight, they all backed away, though some strong looking ones stayed near, looking like they would fight him if he raised a hand to Kam.

"Not here," said Stree quietly.

"Why not?" asked Kam.

"I don't want anyone else to know. Come on," he said grabbing Kam's hand.

"Leave her alone, friend," said one of the men, emboldened by Stree's lack of weaponry, stepped forward and grabbed him on the shoulder.

"Piss off!" shouted Stree, grabbing the man's hand, and throwing him over his shoulder. Another two came up to take the first man's place, both throwing punches wildly, but Stree ducked and rammed his foot into the leg of one, then followed up by chopping the throat of the other. When Kam looked around and saw several other people readying themselves to launch at Stree, she nodded her head.

"I think we should leave," she said. Stree nodded, and the two turned and left.

"So, Wakka, what d'you think of this guy? Do you think it's the real Auron?" asked Tidus, pointing at the board as they watched Lars Dungenin and Cid Tonstan fight it out.

"Nah, I doubt it. Auron was Sent by Yuna. We watched it, eh?"

"I know, I know. It's just-"

"Look, I hope it's him too, but don't get so sure. There's every chance it wont be."

"I know." He turned and watched Dungenin throw Tonstan against the wall.

"Well, we'll see wont we?"


	8. Return of a Hero

Tidus and Wakka stood waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the fighter named Auron. Unknown to them, so did the entire crowd in the arena, and Faloss in the middle of the arena. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, you all know him, you all love him, he helped defeat Sin, the world's most formidable and fearsome guardian, Auron!" yelled the Announcer at the top of his voice. The crowd stood silently as the gates opened slowly. The silence in the arena was heavy enough to crush someone as they waited for 'Auron' to come out. Suddenly, a rustle filled the arena and a man dressed in a red samurai gi, with a gigantic sword draped over his shoulder. The bottom half of his face was covered up, preventing anyone from seeing if he was smiling or not.

"It is him!" hissed Tidus.

"You can't be sure!" replied Lulu. Tidus watched Faloss in the arena. Faloss stared at Auron for a second, then his face dropped and he stumbled backwards again. 'Auron' took the sword, then took one step further towards the man, who promptly threw his weapons and ran for the closest wall and started slapping it as hard as he could. Tidus strained his ears, and could've sworn he heard a low laugh, that was as menacing as it was deep. "That sounds exactly like Auron," he said. He heard the rest of the crowd start to laugh, then Auron turned around and looked at each and every person in the arena, as if searching for something. He looked right into Tidus' eyes, and Tidus gave a jolt. "That is Auron!" He bolted forward and jumped the fence into the arena, vaguely aware of Wakka , Rikku and everyone else doing the same. Tidus pushed his way through the throng of people, and made his way right up to Auron. "Auron!"

"Hello," replied Auron in his soft, yet rough voice as a familiar smile washed across his face.

"How did you get back? How long have you been back?" asked Tidus excitedly.

"The Fayths let me back around about the same time as they let you."

"So how come you didn't try to find us?"

"I thought I'd use the time to hone my fighting skills. I haven't been in a fight for a long time. Why?"

"Why? Because we all thought you were dead." Auron simply smiled again.

Stree stood in the almost empty stands, alone but for Kam standing directly behind him. "So it's true," she said quietly.

"Yep. He's back."

"You going to fight him too?"

"If I have to," replied Stree.

"But you don't." Stree turned to look at her.

"Don't start this again."

"Why not?" she asked, her voice growing angry.

"Because it's my choice. Not yours."

"You made that choice because of me, now doesn't that mean that I have some say in it?"

"No!" yelled Stree, bringing his arms up to cover his eyes, which suddenly glowed bright red. He doubled over for a few seconds, while Kam stood there and waited. He stood back up, glared at Kam for a second, then turned and walked away.

"Where are you going?" shouted Kam angrily. Stree just ignored her and broke into a flat out run. "Hey!" She started to move after him, but was stopped by a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Auron standing behind her.

"Leave him," said Auron.

"What? Do you—?"

"I watched this one as well. He'll be fine. Just leave him."

"But..."

"He'll be fine." He took his hand off her shoulder as Kam's shoulder slumped, then Rikku came running over.

"Hey, Kam isn't it?" Kam nodded. "That was your brother who left wasn't it?" She nodded again. "Is something wrong with him?" Kam pursed her lips.

"A hell of a lot."

"What do you mean?" asked Lulu. Kam shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. He'll be alright in about an hour or so. Say, can I hang out with you guys for a while?" Rikku emphatically nodded her head.

"Sure! Hey, have you met our champion sword fighter?" she grabbed Kam's hand and dragged her over to meet Tidus, who was slowly making his way through the throng of people to talk to Auron again. "Hey, Tidus!" He turned around, Yuna hanging onto his arm. "Say hello to—"

"—Kam Kry'tal," he said, his jaw dropping. Yuna smiled.

"Tidus, are you going to introduce me or do I have to do it myself?" she asked with a small laugh. "Hi, I'm Yuna."

"The High Summoner, I'm honored," said Kam with a smile of her own. The two shook hands, then Kam turned back to Tidus. "Hi, Tidus."

"Kam..." Rikku, looked at the two of them, a confused look on her face.

"Umm, I'm guessing you two know each other."

"I was from Zanarkand, too," Kam said.

"What? Your brother too?" gasped Yuna. Kam nodded. So how do you know each other? Was you brother a blitzer as well?" Tidus blushed, and Kam shook her head. Yuna's eyes popped wide open as she realized. "So you two were, um, that way?" Kam blushed and nodded.

"So, uhh, Kam, is Stree here as well?" asked Tidus.

"He's in the tournament. That Yojimbo guy has the bye next round so you two are up against each other." Tidus paled visibly.

"Scared, huh?" asked Rikku with a mischievous grin. "Well, I can see why, you should've seen what he did to the last guy he fought. Took off his whole arm!" she yelled, cutting her own arm with her hand for emphasis. Tidus smiled.

"Well I think I've gotten a lot better, so he'll have his work cut out for him."

Rikku patted him on the arm. "You keep thinking that. See you in the morning!"


	9. The Big Fight

The arena of the crowd was abuzz with excitement, almost ecstatic at the thought of having the Champion of Sin go head-to-head against the man who had just sent one of the most known fighters in Spira to the hospital in Bevelle to have a prosthetic hand fitted. Tidus stepped into the ring and the crowd erupted into a frenzied cheer that Tidus was sure would have measured on the vibration meter somewhere. Tidus laughed and waved, than started adjusted the guard on his right arm.he was busying himself with that, and wouldn't have even noticed Stree step into the arena if not for the abrupt silence that followed his entrance.

"You haven't changed a bit," said Tidus. Stree stood there, a blank look on his face that Stidus found more disconcerting than any other face he had ever seen.

"Let's just start the fight," said Stree, bringing his Graviton Hammer to bear. Shrugging, Tidus grabbed out his Caladbolg, and stood against Stree. He stepped back a bit, and saw Stree move forward a bit. Then he attacked.

Rikku watched in awe as Stree and Tidus traded blow after blow, with a noise that rang throughout the stadium. "Is he always this aggressive?" she asked Kam.

"Nope, this is just the warm-up."

Stree ducked backwards from a neck high blow from Tidus, then retaliated with a lunge that Tidus dodged easily. Tidus then grabbed Stree's arm and flipped him over his shoulder. Stree landed on his feet, and started flipping around in an effort to dizzy Tidus, then stabbed at him when he wasn't expecting it. Tidus dodged it, then stopped moving.

"Just like old times, eh, Stree? Wanna step it up?" Stree almost smiled.

"Let's do it." Stree stepped back and a silver glow surrounded his body, signifying his transformation to overdrive mode. The glow grew brighter and then shot out in every direction, temporarily blinding everyone. Tidus focused and a golden glow surrounded his body as well. The glow flashed out as well, blinding everyone a second time. Then Stree started screaming in agony as adrenalin started pulsing through his body, and Tidus did the same, the glows shone around the two men again, swirling around them like a whirlwind. The cyclonic glow started going faster and faster, building up to a crescendo, then suddenly blasted out, blinding everyone for a third time. By the time everyone could see again, Tidus and Stree were already going at it, smacking their swords against each other with so much force that they were creating sparks against each other's swords. Stree jumped backwards and swung around as hard as he could. Tidus brought his own weapon up and parried the shot, then followed up with a lunging stab. He connected, and knocked Stree a couple of steps back. Stree glared, then brought his arm up and shot out a thick beam of fire from his hand. Tidus caught it full in the face, knocking him backwards. Stree was on him straight away, jumping high up in the air, ready to impale Tidus on his way down. Tidus jumped out of the way, then threw a Rikku-made grenade at him. Stree hit it away like a baseball, and threw a blizzaga at Tidus. This time Tidus dodged the attack, and was just about to retaliate when an explosion threw him sideways into a nearby wall. He grunted in pain as his world went black.

Stree was more focused than he had ever been in his entire life, so he was more surprised that anyone else when something exploded off to his right. He saw Tidus go flying off to the side, then something flashed by the side of his head. He spun around saw a fang come barreling towards him. He ducked off to the side, then impaled it neatly through the chest. He heard a growl behind him and saw another pack of five fangs advancing on him menacingly. He was about to attack, but then he notices all of the Fiends hurtling into the Stadium. Wave after wave of fang, iron giants, behemoths, and even some Fiends he'd never seen before, game rushing through the gates. He turned around and saw Tidus lying on the ground, completely unconscious. He glared at the unconscious man, then turned around to find a Blitzer, an Al Bhed woman, and a Ronso wearing the headwear of an Elder, all standing beside him, ready to fight. Stree recognized the people from the other night, the friends of Tidus.

"Everyone ready?" asked the Blitzer, Wakka. Rikku let loose with a high pitched cry, then rushed forward, closely followed by the Ronso, then Auron, who had been standing outside Stree's vision. He rushed forwards, and saw a blitzball go flying past his head, straight into one of the fiends. Stree ducked the flailing tentacle of a Malboro, and astabbed it right up through its mouth. He then drew back and spun around to cut the head right off a behemoth that was reaching down to grab the Al Bhed.

"Stree, duck!" a voice yelled from behind him. He ducked, just as three ninja stars went flying over his head. Then a black clad figure leapt over him, stabbing two sai into the face of an ochu.

"Kam! Get out of here!" yelled Stree, running towards her and pushing her out of the way, just as the Ochu fell down, almost flattening her. "Go!" he yelled as he grabbed a grenade from the belt of the Al Bhed girl and threw it into the biggest group of Fiends, launching them everywhere. The Al Bhed hmphed at him, then turned and started slashing at another fiend. Stree grabbed some of the fur of a Fang, and slit it's theroat roughly with his blade, then threw the dead body into the throng. He saw another Behemoth creeping up behind the Ronso, and jumped up onto it's back. It started swinging around wildly, and grabbed one of Stree's arm in its powerful jaws. "Get the hell off me!" shouted Stree, loosing an Ultima inside the Fiends skull, making it explode. The Ronso turned around, nodded, then jumped back into the fray, Stree close behind.

Tidus woke up with a throbbing pain the side of his head. He looked up and saw Wakka and Rikku standing side-by-side fending off all the fiends coming near him. As his mind cleared, he looked around and saw the other tournament fight and a few other people fighting against wave after wave of Fiends. Thinking quickly, Tidus jumped up, grabbed his sword, and stuck it through the neck of a Fiend that was jumping up behind Stree, who was wildly dodging the huge swings of an Iron Giant. Stree grabbed another grenade off Rikku and threw it into the helmet of the Giant, making it explode and throw pieces of metal everywhere. A pile of Fiends broke off from whoever they were attacking, and started to run right at Stree. Suddenly, Stree found himself on the bottom of a very large pile of monsters, and tried his harest to fight his way out. Tidus, without thinking, started trying to pull the Fiends off, but was thrown back when something exploded from beneath him.

"What the hell was that?" he shouted as Stree stood up, surrounded by the large group of dead monsters.

"Overdrive," replied Stree, turning away to fight more Fiends, as another group, larger this time, started at him. Suddenly, every single Fiends that was packed into the stadium was trying to get at Stree, and he quickly found himself being overpowered. He would only just kill one when another would come after him. Suddenly, after being temporarily blinded from a spray of Malboro blood, he was hit from behind by something, and as he fell, he heard a gurgling noise behind him. He turned around to see Yojimbo, one of the tournament fighters, swipe his sword through the throat of yet another fiend. Stree nodded thanks, and the fighter, started to turn away, but was thrown off to the side by a towering Behemoth, only to smack hard against the arena wall, punching through it. Yuna jumped through the hole, and a second later, both came flying back out. Stree turned around and saw the Behemoth descending on him, a murderous gleam in his eyes. Stree saw the Behemoth move faster than anything he had ever seen, and only had time to brace himself, as the monster's hand launched him through the crowd of Fiends. Stree landed on the ground and saw Tidus and his friends create a circle around him. Stree tried to stand up, but dropped back down when all the breath left his body. "...Ribs..." he vaguely heard as he groaned. He saw flashes of light off to the side, and looked over to see Yuna casting something on him.

"No," he said in a croaking voice, pushing her hand away. "Not on me." He braced himself for the pain, and stood up. He ripped off one of his sleeves and wrapped it around his ribcage to hold his shattered bones in place. He grabbed his sword, and tried to make his way to the edge of the group, but was held in place by Kam.

"We retreat," she said to him in a voice that demanded no opposition. Tidus looked back and nodded.

"Fall back!" he yelled, as the human wall started moving back. Stree let himself get pushed through one of the entrances, then dropped back to the ground as Fiends started pushing through he back. He saw someone stick some thing to the wall near them, then a voice yelled out "Take cover!" Stree threw an arm over Kam, wincing at the pain in his ribs, just as the explosives went off. Heat and rock washed over the group of fighters, knocking back several of the Fiends. With a pain, and heat filling up every ounce of his body, Stree felt like he was about to pass out. He vaguely felt himself being lifted up by the Ronso, and the then thrown through the hole made by the bomb. Stree lifted himself up and started making his way along, Kam and Auron at his sides, picking off any resistance. Suddenly, the wall next to him exploded, throwing a piece of rock straight at him, throwing him into darkness..


	10. Tempers

Stree sat on the bed, mulling things over in his mind as to what had happened in the Stadium. Why had all of the Fiends attacked him? There had to be some explanation. He stood up and started pacing the room, trying to figure it out. He made another circuit of the room, then jumped and made for his sword when a knock came lightly at his door.

"Am I interrupting anything?" asked the Summoner, Yuna as she opened the door.

"No," replied Stree gruffly.

"Well may I come in?" she asked with a small smile. Stree nodded, so she walked in and closed the door. She sat down on the bed, and looked up at him, not missing the fact that he still held his sword in his hand.

Stree took up position beside the door, and looked at Yuna. "What do you want?"

Yuna hesitated for a second, then stood up and stared at Stree. "What happened between you and Tidus?"

Stree shook his head. "That's not what you want to know. You want to know why all of the Fiends attacked me, and how they got into the stadium in the first place. You just lost your nerve when you came in and you tried to cover yourself. Now tell me why you came to me and no one else, or I'll throw you out."

Yuna stared at him, open-mouthed, as he was the first person who had ever reacted to her in such a way. To everyone else, it was always the "Lady Summoner", and they were always on their best behavior. "Very well. I came to you because you seem to me to be the most centered person at the moment. No one else has any clue, and as they came to you, I thought that you might have some idea as to why. Do you?"

Stree shook his head. "None at all. I also have no idea how the Fiends got into the Stadium, though I suspect that the explosion that knocked out your lover would have something to do with it. Now I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Where are we?"

"We're at the travel agency on the Mi-ihen Highroad. It was the first place where we could rest after your sister ordered our retreat. But you'd know that if you came out of your room."

Stree shook his head. "No. I still have to think some more."

Yuna nodded. "Alright then. But please, did Tidus do something to you or your family? Why do you loathe him so?"

Stree glared at her. "Get out!" he ordered, grabbing her roughly by the arm, and pushing her towards the door. "Now!"

Yuna quickly exited the room, and Stree dropped heavily onto his bed.

"Wow. Still as sociable as ever. Oh well, at least she didn't cry," remarked Kam, coming into the room.

"Get out," said Stree tiredly.

"No. I came in to tell you something."

"What?" asked Stree, rolling over to go to sleep.

"Auron wants us all to go to the thunder plains."

"And why would Auron want us to go to the thunder plains?" asked Stree gruffly.

"Because he thinks he knows why the Fiends came after us."

"After me, you mean."

"Nope, after us." Kam pointed at herself. "After you got yourself knocked out, they went for me. Tidus, Wakka, Rikku and Kimarhi all helped me out while Auron cleared a way out."

Stree rolled back over. "Are the rest of them still here?" Kam knew who he meant, so she answered him with a smile.

"Well, wherever Lady Yuna goes, so goes her suitor." Kam stood up and grabbed the Graviton Hammer from where Stree had thrown in during his attempt to eject Yuna from his room. "I think you should go out there and thank at least some of them before we go. And while you get yourself cleaned up for that time, I'll go clean this for you."

"Thanks," replied Stree gruffly. When Kam walked out of the room, Stree pulled himself up off the bed and walked over to the shower.

Yuna caught up to Kam as she walked out of the room. "Is always that grouchy?" she asked.

Kam smiled. "Not that bad, not normally. You either asked him about how he was beaten down by the Fiends, or you mentioned Tidus doing something to me."

Yuna winced. "Actually, it was both."

Kam laughed. "Well, you did a lot better than anyone else who's ever done that. The last time someone mentioned Tidus to him was in Zanarkand, and they ended up with two broken ribs and a popped kneecap."

Yuna gaped at Kam for a second, then caught herself and kept walking. "Speaking of broken ribs, why did Stree not want me to heal him during the battle?"

"Stree hated having magic used on him as a crutch. When he was younger, he used to do it all the time when he played games like Blitz or when he hunted Fiends, and it made him really week for over a year. Now he doesn't do it if he can help it."

"Ah. So, if you don't mind my asking, what was it that Tidus did that makes Stree hate him?"

Kam thought for a second, deciding whether or not she could trust Yuna with the story. "Alright, I'll tell you, but you can't tell all the others." Yuna nodded. "Well about five years ago, when Tidus was an up and coming blitzer, he was put into a team with Stree. They became best friends, and stayed that way for about four months, until Tidus met me. We started going out, and—" he story was cut short by a loud crash coming from around the corner.

"Cut it out!" screamed Rikku at the top of her lungs. Kam looked at Yuna, nodded, and they ran to find out what it was. They turned the corner, then Kam pulled Yuna back as a heavy book came flying past them.

"Calm down!" shouted Auron. Kam turned the corner and found Tidus up against a wall with Wakka holding him in place, while Stree was being held against a door by both Kimarhi and Auron, who, even with their combined strength, were having trouble holding him in place. Stree ducked down for a second, and came up and went for Tidus, who got out from Wakka and launched a fist at Tidus. Both men never connected, though, as a bright light filled the room up, blinding every one. When the light dimmed, both Stree and Tidus were on the floor, each with several men sitting on top of them, while Rin stood in the center of the room, his arms crossed, and his face angry.

"Please. There will be no fighting in my travel agencies, or I shall have ask you all to leave. Are the two of you finished?" He looked over at both men, and made sure he got a nod from each of them, then motioned for the men to get up. "Now, enjoy your stay." With that, he turned to leave. Tidus stood up and glared at Stree. Stree glared back. Kam walked over to Stree, while Yuna walked over to Tidus. "What happened?" asked Kam. Stree didn't answer. He just grabbed his Graviton Hammer from Kam's hand, and turned to walk out the door. He reached out to grab the handle, when it exploded inwards. Auron, reacting with the speed belying his age, grabbed his katana as the Fiends started pouring in again.

"Didn't we just leave this party?"


	11. Party Time

Rin walked out of the travel agency, almost fuming at the thought of all the money he would have to pay due to the damages inflicted by fistfight between the two men. He picked up the keys to his personal hover, and was about to get in when he heard a noise behind him. He spun around, but saw nothing. He looked over to his left and saw one of his bodyguards standing next to the hover. He motioned for the man to come over, but something flashed through the air, and the man dropped to the ground. Rin spun around, trying to find whatever it was, but still saw nothing except his other three guards laying on the ground. "What is going on?" Rin asked himself. Suddenly, he heard a buzzing sound behind, while at the same time, he felt something grab his shoulder and throw him to the ground.

"Stay down!" The voice hit Rin like the hiss of a Basilisk, but in it Rin heard something that made him obey. He screwed his eyes shut, and then he heard the swoosh of a blade cutting through air, then the howling of pyreflies escaping to the farplane, and a grunt. Rin looked up and saw one of the fighters from the tournament staring down at him, red eyes glowing in the darkness of the night. "You can get up now," said the man with the hissing voice, as he offered his hand to the merchant.

"Thank you," replied Rin. He started to walk back towards the Agency, but stopped when the hissing man's hand grabbed him again.

"Into the hover! Now!" commanded the man, and Rin complied immediately. He jumped in and closed the cockpit hatch, then looked out the window to see what was happening. He watched helplessly as hundreds of Fiends started pouring in from the tress and pathways straight towards the Agency, but of the hissing man, he could not see anything.

Pyreflies were exploding everywhere as Stree, Rikku and Auron, the three people with weapons, moved in with an eerie synchronization and started attacking the fiends together. At one point, Stree had only just finished off a behemoth when he heard a scream and found Rikku with her dagger buried to the hilt in the throat of a Lupe who was about to bite him. He nodded thanks, then cut the legs out from under another Lupe who was going fro Auron, then ducked as Rikku threw dagger at one of the other fiends. Stree ducked and found himself back to back with Auron, who was cutting through swarms of bite bugs. Suddenly, Auron pushed Stree out of the way, then a swirling tornado caught almost all of the fiends in the room. Whiwel Stree and Rikku circled around to deal with the remainder, Auron took a quick sip of his drink, then threw his sword into the twister, sending the fiends flying everywhere and causing pyreflies to explode all around the room. But for all of their collective fighting talents, nothing was helping, for every one fiends that they'd eliminate three more rose up to take it's place. Stree felt himself go flying from the tail of yet another Behemoth, then saw a flash of silver streak past him, and go straight through the gigantic fiend's leg. He looked over, and saw Yojimbo, one of the fighter's from the tournament and one of the few who had stayed when the fiends attacked the stadium, ducking and weaving and stabbing and slicing in a pattern too graceful to be used while killing fiends, and nodded his thanks to him as well. Stree felt himself getting angrier and angrier at the fact that he had been saved so many times in the recent times. He started taking it out on the fiends, and any monster unlucky enough to go for him soon felt the cold steel as his sword cut through them as if there was nothing solid inside. Suddenly, he felt Yojimbo grab him by the shoulder and throw him backwards, where he found Kam being carried, kicking and screaming through the back door by Wakka, with Auron and Kimarhi acting as guards.

"You must get out!" hissed Yojimbo. "Quickly. I shall follow!" Yojimbo gave Stree a final push, then Tidus grabbed him by the arm and motioned for the door. Stree pulled his arm away, but started moving as the pack of Fiends seemed to grow. They exited the door and found Rin waiting with a hover, and all of them jumped aboard. The hover started moving, but a Skink was able to catch them and pulled Stree off. He landed hard on the ground, and found himself looking into the face of the fiends that had thrown him to the ground. Stree grabbed his Hammer, and lanced it up through the neck of the fiend, then flipped up onto his feet to face the rest of the oncoming group. He saw Yojimbo come running to his side, and the two of them started hacking apart fiend after fiend as they came near. Suddenly, one of the fiends caught Stree in the back launching him forward and making him lose his grip of his weapon. He rolled himself over and found himself staring up into the gaping jaw of a Lupe. He felt it's hot breath as it reared its head back to bite him. Stree reached for his sword, but couldn't find it anywhere. He reached his hands up to grab the Skink's neck, but Yojimbo appeared from nowhere and cut the fiend's head clean off its shoulders. He lifted Stree up and started pushing him towards the moving hover.

"Here!" hissed Yojimbo. "A parting gift!" With that he pushed his sword into Stree's hands. "Now go!" When Stree wouldn't move, Yojimbo picked him up and, using incredible srength that he couldn't possibly have possessed, threw him onto the hover ten feet away. As the hover started to move, Stree picked himself up and yelled out to Rin

"Stop! We have to get him!" He yelled, pounding on the glass.

Auron grabbed him. "It's too late! He's gone!"

Yojimbo, now weaponless, started attacking with his hands as the fiends started to swarm him, sensing that he was weak without his sword. Fiend after fiend started piling on top of him, pushing him further and further into the ground. With each fiend that landed on him, the grin that Yojimbo held underneath his mask grew ever bigger. Finally, when the weight seemed to great for even him to bear, and he was sure that the hover was a safe distance away, Yojimbo started laughing. "You fools should never have fucked with me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. His entire body started glowing, and suddenly, the entire world turned pure white as an explosion tore through the area surrounding the travel agency. Fiend exploded into pyreflies as the explosion ripped it's way right down into the valley below. When the world finally returned to it's normal color. Not one of the fiends was alive, and the road was covered with pyreflies. Yojimbo was gone as well, completely obliterated except for his white mask, that lay crack, half buried in the ground.

Thank you YojimbosBlade! Yojimbo is an awesome fighter, isn't he?


	12. Practice

As the hover was about to pass through the gate connecting the Mi-ihen Highroad to the Djose Road, Stree saw the white flash light up the sky. He wondered for a second what it was, but then the shockwave of the explosion hit him, and threw him, and everyone else, off the Hover, landing hard on the ground. The only one who wasn't thrown was Rin, though he got shaken around the cockpit because of the force. Stree picked himself up off the ground, and stared through the darkness of the night to try and find what was once the Mi-ihen Highroad Travel Agency. He vaguely noticed the others checking each other for injuries, and walked over to a corner to be on his own. He started mulling over the events of the travel agency, and was surprised to find himself almost overwhelmed with anger over Yojimbo's death. Thoughts started racing through Stree's head. He was a better fighter than anyone else there! He had strength enough to throw me as far as he did, he could have made the jump! He could have cut through any of those Fiends! He smacked the wall, and found himself still holding Yojimbo's sword. Pictures and voices started racing through his mind. Yojimbo thrusting the sword into Stree's hand. Yojimbo picking Stree up and throwing him, just before being spear tackled by a Fiend. Yojimbo slicing through the fiend that was planning on chomping down on Stree. Suddenly, a deep voice cut through him, clear as though he was standing right next to him.

"Stand strong." The voice rang through Stree's head. He looked around, thinking that Yojimbo was near, but couldn't see anyone except the others. "Don't give in. The worst is yet to come. Stand strong." Stree looked down at the sword, and tried to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"Is something wrong?" asked a voice from behind him. Swallowing down a momentary burst of anger, Stree turned around to face Rikku, who was, perhaps wisely, standing a few feet away. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," replied Stree, hoping to brush her off, but she wouldn't be swayed.

"Are you sure? You seem angry."

Taking a deep breath, Stree willed himself to not take the sword in his hand, and plunge it into the nosey girl's body.

"Alright then, let's try something else. Where do we go now?"

Growling, Stree tried to push past her. "Why ask me?"

Rikku stared at his as though it was a stupid question. "Well, you're the leader."

Now it was Stree's turn to give a strange look. "Leader of what? All we've done is get attacked, and driven off, there's nothing to lead!"

"So. You don't know us, yet you've saved our lives at least once each, even Tidus', who by all accounts you hate! Makes it hard for people to not respect or trust you."

"What's your point? You're all so hell-bent on staying with me for some reason, and you can all hold your own in a fight, even Blondie, so it makes sense for me to have as much help as I can get."

"You also seem to be the most battle-proficient and the best strategist! Hmm, I can see why we shouldn't look to you as a leader!" replied Rikku, in an angry voice.

"Think what you want," said Stree, feeling anger rising again. "I don't want to be a leader, and I'm not, so go figure out for yourself what you're doing!"

He heard Rikku growl, then saw a fist come flying right at his face. It was only inches from his face when he lashed out and grabbed it, squeezing hard enough to discourage her, yet not cause any real damage in case they had to fight again. He stopped when he heard he start to whimper. "Never do that again," he growled pushing her back.

"Hey!" Stree growled again as another person, a female dressed in the gear of a warrior, came up to him, and helped Rikku up. Rikku, in a very childish move, poked her tongue out at him, and ran over to the Summoner. The warrior turned around and stared at him, and Stree couldn't help but notice the way her crimson red eyes seemed to peer into his very soul.

"What do you want? You going to pick a fight with me too?"

The woman shook her head, making her silver hair shake all over the place. "I saw what happened. Rikku's always the happy one. What did you do to set her off?"

"I wanted her to go away. Sort of like this situation."

The warrior laughed shortly. "At least you're honest." Suddenly, Rikku popped over the warrior-woman's shoulder, apparently completely over what had just happened.

"Hey, Paine. You know something? You two seem meant for each other. You're both too serious!"

Paine sighed. "Three points, Rikku." Rikku, groaned, then sulked away.

Curious despite himself, Stree asked, "Points?"

The warrior—Paine, laughed again. "I told her once that I keep a table of 'respect points' as a way of getting her off my back. Seems that it still works."

Stree laughed, something he hadn't done for a long time. "Maybe I'll have to try that some time."

"If it works. I'm Paine, by the way." She held out her hand.

"Stree Kry'tal." Stree held out his hand, and found that it still had Yojimbo's sword in it, and all of his dark emotions threatened to overwhelm him again. Without knowing how much danger she was putting herself in, Paine reached out and gently took the sword.

"Was this that Yojimbo guy's" Stree nodded. She swung it through the air a couple of times. "Nice balance. Good weight." She turned and handed it back, and Stree put it into the sheath that used to hold his Hammer. Paine nodded to him, then, as if realizing it would be safer to leave him alone, turned and started to walk away "Say, she said, stopping for a second. "You need to get used to that sword if you're going to use it. In the morning, would you like to practice?"

"Why not?" replied Stree. Paine nodded, then turned around and headed off. Stree turned towards where Kam was rolling out his bedroll. "What's going on?"

"We're staying here tonight, then we're heading off in the morning. Off to Mount Gagazet. Yuna's Ronso friend knows people who can protect us." Stree nodded. And grabbed his bed. He rolled it open a little further away from everyone else, and hopped in. As he started to drift off to sleep, he found himself unable to stop thinking of how his training with Paine would go in the morning, and eventually dropped into the first dreamless sleep he had had in a long time.

The sun was only just beginning to come up when Stree awoke, but he found Paine already up. He got out of his bed, and pulled on a fresh pair of pants, but as it was a fairly hot day already, decided to leave his shirt off. He grabbed his new sword and a towel, and walked over to the clearing where Paine was warming up. "You're up early," Stree asked as he got near her.

Paine stared at him for a second, then replied. "I'm not the only one," replied Paine, her breath coming a little short from the warm-ups. Stree nodded, then brought his sword up.

"You ready to start?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you warm up first?"

"Maybe."

Paine looked at him and shook her head. "Your funeral." She brought up her sword, and Stree caught a good look at it.

"Nice sword." He said.

"Thanks," she replied as she half-turned and let the bladed end drop to the ground behind her.

"You know, when you do that, there's a chance that a fast enough fiend can cause a lot of damage to you."

"Yeah, right."

"It's the truth. Here, I'll show you." Without another word, Stree brought his sword around and aimed at her neck, but she ducked out of the way and brought her own blade around, but, as though sensing where it would make contact, he brought his sword around and knocked it away.

"Not fast enough," said Paine. Stree nodded, then stabbed out at her, stopping himself just before making contact with her throat. Paine jerked backwards in shock.

"Still too slow?" Paine laughed for a second. Then she flew at him. Stree ducked and sidestepped and twirled as she launched a frenzied assault at him, forcing him to block at every turn and not even giving him the slightest chance to attack. He got sick of this after a little while, and knocked her sword out of the way with more force than normal, then spun around and slashed at her neck. Only she wasn't there any more, she had somehow gotten around behind him, and tapped him on the side of the leg with her sword. Stree smiled, then started on his own attack pattern. This sword however, was lighter than his Hammer, and he found himself swinging with more force than he normally would, and as a result, ended up on his back a lot, from having Paine trip him up repeatedly as he tried to find his balance. After a little while though, he got used to the sword and started making contact with her a lot more. After a couple of hours of training, when everyone else was supposed to be getting up, and they were both too tired to keep fighting, they decided to call it quits for the day.

"That was the most challenge I've had in a long time. We should do this again," said Stree, grabbing the towel to wipe off the dirt he had collected as they started to walk back.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We should," replied Paine a bit distractedly. Rikku was up and bouncing around when they got back, and when she saw them, she actually hopped over to them.

"Heyyy, what've you two been up to, hmm?" she asked in a mischievous voice.

"Training," growled Stree, starting to walk back over to his things, where Kam was waiting.

"Yeah, sure," replied Rikku. She started making loud kissing noises and hugging herself.

Paine sighed again. "Twelve points, Rikku!" Rikku gulped and ran off, and Paine walked over to her things.

Stree made his way over to Kam and his things, making sure not to get near to Tidus, as he was still pumped up on adrenaline from training, and he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Morning," said Kam when he reached her.

"Morning," replied Stree. "Sleep well?" Kam laughed. "What?" asked Stree as he reached down to grab a top.

"II was just thinking of how long it's been since you asked me if I slept well."

"How long?"

"A very long time. It's been a very long time since you've been in a good mood." Stree smiled to himself. "And as it happened, it was also the last time you got laid," said Kam. Stree spun around to push her away, but she was already halfway across the other side of the camp. Laughing truthfully for the first time in years, he turned back to his stuff, only to find Rikku in front of him, still kissing and hugging herself. He was about to grab his sword and give her a good scare, but then a pair of socks came flying across in front of him, smacking her square in the face, and she ran off. He looked over to see who had thrown it, and found Paine there with a scowl on her face. Smiling openly now, he turned to finish his packing.


	13. Anger Management

The sun was setting by the time Stree and the rest of the group reached Djose Temple, so they decided to stop there for the night. "Upon hearing this started jumping for joy over the chance to see Gippal again, though she stated firmly that they were 'just friends'.

"Of course you are," said Paine. Stree smiled, then turned away when Kam gave him a funny look.

"I think when we get there we should ask Gip if he'll let us borrow his airship," said Wakka as they neared the temple. Rin shut down the hover and hopped out.

"I think that I shall get some supplies. The food is running low." With that, he turned and walked into the temple. Stree dropped down from his vantage point on the top of the machine, and grabbed his bag. He strapped the sword that was now his to his back, then walked over to the temple entrance. "Hey, wait up!" shouted Tidus from behind him. Whatever good feelings were in Stree disappeared in an instant. "I said wait!" shouted Tidus.

Stree continued walking. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Look I said I was sorry about what happened, so why are you still so angry at me?"

Stree growled again, and spun around to grab Tidus. He caught him in the throat and pushed him into the temple wall. "It's because you weren't sorry when it happened! She's still has nightmares about it! Did you know that?"

"Stree, I'm sorry, I.I didn't…"

"Of course you didn't! You were too busy bragging to everyone else about your latest victory!"

"I went to see her when I heard!"

"Yeah, three days after it happened! And you brought that stupid bitch with you, too! I thought that even you wouldn't be so stupid!"

"Hey, I…" Tidus voice cut out when Stree started closing his hand tighter on his throat.

"Hey!" A flash filled the air. Stree cracked open an eye and found himself lying on the ground, his arms and feet bound to pegs pushed into the ground.

"What the hell's going on?" shouted Stree, struggling against his bonds.

"Calm down," commanded Gippal, stepping into Stree's field of vision. "Calm down, and I'll let you free." Stree started to relax a little, but was still visibly tense. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Stree, a little confused now. He remembered grabbing Tidus by the throat, and arguing with him, but nothing beyond that.

Gippal gave him a strange look. "Are you kidding? You jump Tidus, then head turns into a ball of fire, and you don't remember?"

"What?" asked Stree, really confused now. He tried to open both eyes, but something was holding his left eye closed

"Here, I'll show you," said Gippal, reaching down to untie Stree. He held out a hand to help Stree up, but he ignored it and hauled himself to his feet. "Over here," said Gippal, pointing Stree to a mirror. He walked over to it, then nearly threw up when he saw his reflection. The whole left side of his face was completely black, including his eye, and his right had a gigantic cut running right down, from his forehead, through his eye and down to the corner of his mouth.

"Wh, what's this stuff on my face?" Stree asked after his voice returned to him.

"Something to help heal the burns on your face. We tried to apply it as quickly as we could, but by the time we got to it, your left eye had already been fused shut. It's closed permanently," said Gippal, his voice full of sympathy. Suddenly, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" demanded Stree.

"Sorry," replied Gippal. "I just had a thought. You, me and Auron have all lost an eye. It's starting to turn into a club."

"Do I get a membership card?" asked Stree.

Gippal laughed again. "Ah it's not so bad once you get used to it. Hey, some girls even find it kind of attractive."

"How long till this crap comes off?" asked Stree.

"You can wash it off tomorrow."

Stree turned around and walked out of the room, into the entrance of the temple. He saw Auron, Tidus, Wakka and a few others that Stree didn't know all laid out on bed, bandages and bruises all over them. He turned around to find Gippal behind him.

"What the hell happened to them?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"You happened. After you jumped Tidus, Auron and a few of my workers tried to pry you off him, but then, you went all fiery and started laying into all of them, not to mention the burns they scored off you when the flames burst out. I was lucky. I only got hit in a arm." He held out his right arm to show a blood stained bandage wrapped around his bicep.

"Sorry," mumbled Stree. He looked around and spotted Kam tending to Auron, and walked over to her. "You all right?" he asked when he reached her. She turned around to answer him, but paled when she saw his face. She held a hand to her mouth for a second, then swallowed the rising bile and was able to answer him.

"I'm fine. You did a good job on a lot of others, though."

Stree nodded. "I noticed." He looked around and saw Rikku and Paine huddled in a corner. Rikku looked over at him, then turned away and rushed off to the bathrooms. Paine wouldn't even look at him. He turned and walked back to Gippal. "You have anything I can use to cover myself up for a while?"

"We only have bandages for no. When we pass through Bevelle, I was going to see if I could find you something a little more practical." Stree nodded and grabbed a bandage off one of the medics, then proceeded to wrap it around his head. "How long until we leave?" he asked after he finished.

Gippal nodded, then replied. "After we move those three to the _Ixion_, we'll be able to lift off."

"The _Ixion_?"

"That's the name of my airship. It was built using pieces of this temple that we found when we refurbished it." Whether it was that he didn't have to see Stree's scarring, or because of pride in his airship, Gippal's words started to flow a little easier. Stree nodded.

"Hey if we have a chance, can we stop off in Luca?"

"What's in Luca?"

"My airship."

Gippal nodded. "Sure." Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the temple, then a thump slammed against the door. "What was that?" he asked.

Stree turned and grabbed his sword, which he found leaning against a wall. "How quickly can you move them?" he asked, pointing to Tidus, Wakka and Auron.

Gippal grabbed a shoulder cannon, and motioned to one of his aides to start moving the three. "How long do you think we have?" Suddenly, the door exploded inwards and Fiends started rushing in.

"I'd say not too long."


	14. Escape

"Move! Get those three out!" shouted Gippal, firing his cannon at a group of fiends closing in on Kam.

"Kam! Move!" shouted Stree. He sprinted across the floor to where Kam was quickly being surrounded by the monsters. He ducked underneath a strike from a Fang, then dodged a falling ice block from a flan, and shoved the down the throat of a Condor. He heard a yell behind him, and found Paine run through a Fiend as it exploded into pyreflies, grabbing her sword from the ground as she did so. Rikku was close behind, moving quickly enough to grab something and slip it into her backpack as she slit the throat of a Vulture. Suddenly, a Sand Worm exploded up through the floor, catching three of the Al Bhed men who were busy firing their guns at two Behemoth's that were battering against the walls in order to allow more Fiends in. The walls crumbled under their continuous assault, and suddenly Stree's vision was filled with Fiends flying, crawling and running in.

Stree cut through a line of fiends, and made his way over to Gippal, who was firing his cannon continuously. "What in Yevon's name is going on? They're all working together? They never do that!"

"I don't know! The others out yet?" he yelled as he moved in and decapitated a Lupe.

A snake-like fiend struck at Gippal, but it wasn't quick enough to strike as he dropped the cannon and grabbed the fiend by the throat, and cut it through with a knife he had slipped from his boot, all in one smooth motion. "Everyone but your sister!" he yelled back.

"Damn!" muttered Stree, scanning across the room to see if he could spot her.

"Stree!" Kam's shout came from underneath the biggest group of Fiends. Stree's feeling of frustration came to a head, and he felt his arm start to burn. He lifted his hand up, and found that his hand had become a gigantic ball of fire. On impulse, he threw up his hand, and pushed towards the group of fiend, throwing the fire at them. It caught the one at the outside part of the group, lancing through it like a spear, then kept going straight through, not only cutting through every fiend it found, but also setting them on fire. Because of the flames, every time one of the burning fiend one of its friend, it set them alight as well. Stree acted quickly on this, ducking into the group and making his way over to Kam while the Fiends were trying to stop the fires. A water Flan cast a waterga that engulfed the entire temple trying to put it out, but the flames were burning too fiercely. Stree grabbed Kam and started making his way out, slashing and slicing through any Fiend he found, and made his way to where Gippal was waiting at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials.

"Come on, in here!" shouted Gippal over the noise.

"We'll get trapped in there!" shouted Kam in reply.

"Come on, you think I'd make my home without an escape plan" Gippal laughed. "Come on!" The three of them made their way through the heavy stone doors. They continued on, thanking the Fayths that they didn't have to fight any fiends, right up until they reached the back door.

"Oh, _cryd_," muttered Gippal at the sight of the enormous Fiend in front of them.

"Wait, I've heard of these things before," said Kam. "It's a Chocobo Eater. It's strong, but if you can knock it over, it's screwed."

"Got it," said Stree, stepping forward.

"Wait!" exclaimed Gippal, grabbing his arm. "I know you're a good fighter, but even you wont be able to beat this thing alone!"

"Then you fight with me."

Gippal turned to Kam, and held out a knife. "Can you fight?"

"No she can't!" snapped Stree, slapping the knife away from his sister.

"I'm a mage. I'll use magic to distract it, while you two get in, knock it down, and finish it off." Gippal nodded, and turned to face the Chocobo Eater, ignoring the glare from Stree.

"Together, okay?" asked Gippal, twirling his daggers in the same fashion as Rikku.

Stree nodded. "On three." The fiend growled as it turned towards them.

"One."

It coughed up a few of the golden chocobo feathers.

"Two."

It cracked it knuckles, and Gippal got into a ready stance.

Time seemed to stand still as Gippal waited. Sparks started to dance around Kam as she prepared her first spell. Stree brought his sword up past his shoulder.

"Three!"

Lightning exploded through the air as Kam ripped a Thundaga through the Fiend's chest, and Gippal ran in at one of the knees. It noticed this though, and recovered enough to sweep one of its gigantic arms in, knocking both Gippal and Stree down. The fiend moved forward and delivered a sledgehammer blow to Gippal, who jumped out of the way just in time. He looked back, and found a gigantic dent in the ground, and he gulped. He looked back and found Stree running in for the Chocobo Eater's knee, but he was caught by one of the monster's gigantic fists, and was thrown back. Gippal looked around at the monster, and saw it's other fist flying at him. He ducked, but wasn't fast enough to dodge it, and was pushed right into the wall of the temple. He looked around and saw the Stree looked around and saw the thing advancing on Kam, and growled. Another fireball formed on his hand, and he launched it at the Fiend's head. It missed, but it distracted the thing enough to give Kam the time to cast an Ultima on the thing. A ball of pure energy exploded from the chest of the beast, and it damaged it severely, taking its left arm off.

"Move in from that side!" shouted Stree, pointing at the left side on the Fiend. Gippal nodded, and together, they moved in, while the Chocobo Eater was howling in pain at the loss of it's arms. They both launched themselves at the beast's knee, and succeeded this time in pushing their way through, shattering the thing's kneecap. The force of the blow knocked it off balance, and it rolled onto its back. Now free of danger, Gippal picked himself up from the ground, and walked over to it, where it was still screaming, not only from it's arm, but now also because of it's mangled knee. Stree walked over to it, and stood over it, his expression unreadable because of the bandage covering the whole of his face except for his one good eye. "No more birdies for you," he said quietly. He raised his sword, and sliced it down, punching through the neck of the beast. Blood sprayed everywhere, but none of the three noticed it as their vision was impaired by the thousands of pyreflies that suddenly exploded into being.

Gippal stood quietly for a minute, then started moving away. "Come on, the _Ixion_'s just around this corner." Stree and Kam followed, and the three of them walked quietly around the corner of the temple. When Stree first saw the streamlined silver airship, he wasn't sure how Gippal could have built something so beautiful. From what he had heard, Gippal was supposedly one of the most chaotic men in Spira. Of coruse, he had built the one political faction that didn't fall apart when he and the other two crimson squad members disappeared, so he can't be that bad. When Kam groaned, however, his mind returned to their current situation.

"Don't like making it easy on us, do they?" asked Stree, upon sight of the twenty or so Fiends that formed a barrier between them and the airship. "Look's like we fight our way through."

"Wait a minute. Why aren't they attacking us?" asked Kam. Gippal burst into laughter.

Stree scowled, though because of the bandages, it didn't have the effect it usually did. "What's so funny?"

Gippal reached into his pocket, and pulled out a little cylinder. "That's my security device. Those Fiends are just holograms." He pushed a button on the cylinder, and the Fiends flickered, then disappeared.

"Nice," laughed Kam.

"Come on, let's go," said Gippal. He walked up the open ramp. Stree looked at Kam, who shrugged her shoulder, then followed Gippal in. Stree looked around at the clearing, to make sure there were no fiends, then walked in himself.


	15. New Look

Stree walked straight through the interior of the ship to the bridge of the airship. He watched silently from the back as Gippal and Rikku ran all over the place, shouting orders at the gunners and pilots to start the ship moving. The ship gigantic engines came to life with an almost deafening roar, and the _Ixion_ started to float into the air. It started to move forward, and Stree let himself start to believe that they might be out of it, when a loud thump cracked through the hull, and the ship started to fall back down.

"What the hell is that?" yelled Gippal.

The pilot looked around wildly.

"There's a gigantic Fiends attached to the deck! It's gonna kill us all!"

Gippal smacked him in the head. "Calm down! It's going to be all right. How big and what is it?"

A man in the tech station pushed a few buttons, then gulped loudly enough that he was hear over the roar of the straining engines. "It's like that thing that attacked the Highwind when we went to Bevelle! The vital signs read exactly the same!"

Stree growled and turned away. "This is getting boring." He grabbed his sword and walked out to the elevator.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going?" shouted Gippal.

Stree didn't bother to answer him; he simply slapped the button for the deck.

The wind whipped at Stree the moment the heavy steel doors. He turned to face the gigantic fiend, who growled at him when he saw that someone was there. The wind picked up even more, and started pulling at the bandages on Stree's face, prompting him to take them off and drop them onto the metal deck. He walked out into the open, and watched as the fiend lifted itself up from the airship, and flew into the air, settling into a position next to the hovering machine. Ignoring the pain the wind pounding against his wounded face caused, he brought his sword up into fight position. The fiend growled again, and swiped at Stree. Stree stepped back, and the things scraped its claw off the metal.

"Hey! Watch the paintwork!" came Gippal's voice from a speaker next to the door. Stree brought his sword around and swiped it at the beast. The fiend brought its arm up to block the blow, knocking Stree's sword away, then spun around and returned with another swipe at him. Stree was ready for this though, and shot a Firaga at the beast, catching it off guard and pushing it away from the ship a little. The thing growled, then pushed itself away from the ship, and started charging up an attack. Stree did the same thing, and started focusing as much energy as he could. Sparks started flying through the sky and the man and the beast let loose with their attacks at the same time. The thin let loose with a photon wings attack, launching burst of bright lights into the air, which all shot straight for Stree. Stree meanwhile, had launched a flare attack at the monster, causing flames to burst forth from its body. The light pulses pushed Stree to the deck causing the gash on his face to open wider, while the flames leaping from the fiend's body started to devour one of it's arms. It screamed in an angry rage, and flew straight at Stree, catching him with its uninjured arm. The thing kept pushing forward, and Stree found that the only thing stopping him from a very large drop was the thing that held onto him. He smiled tightly, then started stabbing at the beast's hand. The thing screamed again, and threw Stree, tossing him through the air. Thankfully for Stree though, he landed – hard – on the deck of the _Ixion_. He rolled and jumped back to his feet. He turned around to face the monster and found it floating directly in front of him. Before he had a chance to react, the thing sapped him, knocking him right into the door of the elevator, with enough force to leave a big dent in the metal. He picked himself up again and stabbed straight at the eye of the beast, but it moved with startling speed and dodged it, then pummeled him against the door again. Again, Stree picked himself up, but not before shooting a Fira at where he thought the Fiend was positioned. He was rewarded for his effort with a howl, and stood back up again, only to find that the thing was launching another Photon Wings attack at him. He was still recovering from that when the thing launched its poison vomit at him. Thankfully, Stree had enough time to jump to the side, and the vomit only caught his right arm, quickly numbing it. His jump however, placed him right in the path of the thing's still-burning left arm, launching him up through the air. The beast followed him though, and caught him before he was anywhere near the ground, and started crushing him. Stree grunted in pain, and tried to pry its hands away. When that didn't work, he grabbed his sword.

"See my fight in the tournament?" he shouted as he sliced right through the Fiend's arm. The hand exploded into millions of pyreflies, and Stree felt himself start falling, but he grabbed onto the stump of its arm, and hauled himself onto it. He then started running along it, and jumped onto the thing's back. He wrapped one arm around the monster's neck, and proceeded to slit its throat. The monster burst into pyreflies, and this time, Stree had nothing to stop himself falling to the ground, hundred of feet below. Stree closed his good eye as he fell, and threw his hand out in front of him, so they were pointed at the ground. He started chanting something to himself, and sparks started swirling all over the place, as Stree started the chant to create an ancient spell that he had not had cause to use in a long time. Wind started whirling around him, almost like a tornado, and his descent started to slow, when he was at the falling pace of a piece of paper, Stree relaxed and allowed the Float spell to drop him gently close to the ground. About two meters off the ground, the spell stopped Stree, and he lay there, exhausted, and fell unconscious.

Stree groaned, as he woke up from his peaceful slumber. He tried to open his eyes, but found that both of them stayed close.

"Ah, damn, don't tell me I screwed up both my eyes," he muttered to himself.

"No," came a female voice to his left. "You just opened up the cut on your right eye. The bandage is to keep it shut."

"Who's that?" He asked, groping blindly for something he could use as a defensive weapon.

"It's all right," came the voice. "It's me, Paine."

Stree relaxed a little, and lay back on his bed. "Where am I?"

"Guadosalam. That Fiend crippled the airship's engines, so this is as far as we could get. Gippal called in a favor with Nooj, so we're going to be here while the ship gets repaired."

Stree sat up, and started to take off the bandage. "How long have I been out?" he asked as he took the thing off, and looked at Paine. He was surprised to find he curled up in a chair, with a blanket wrapped around her.

"About five days," she replied. "We've all been taking it in turns to keep watch over you while you healed."

Stree turned and examined his cut in a mirror. He found that the black stuff covering his face had been removed, exposing the full extent of his scarring, and it almost made him throw up. He forced himself to keep watching though, and found that the right side of his face was untouched, except for the cut running down through his eye, which he found was nothing but a scar. "How did it heal so fast?" he asked when he looked away.

Paine allowed herself a small smile. "It's amazing what Leblanc's medical team can do."

"They couldn't get rid of the scars, though," muttered Stree to himself.

"Auron brought you one of his chest plates," said Paine, trying to cover the awkward silence that settled through the small room. "He thought you might want to cover yourself up a little." Stree looked at where she pointed, making sure to only show the right side of his face, to hide the scars, and nodded.

"I need to get changed," he said. Paine nodded. "That means leave," he growled angrily.

Paine stared at him coldly. "You've been slipping in and out for the past couple of days. I'm staying to make sure you don't black out again."

"Fine, just turn around then!" Paine turned around and Stree grabbed the leather armor. He slipped it over his head, and found that the faceplate covered a lot of the scarring on the left side of his face. He looked around, and found a black headband lying on a desk. He picked it up, and slipped it on, placing one side of it to cover his left eye like an eye patch. He turned around and found Paine watching him. "Where is everyone?"

"Out in the main hall right now," replied Paine evenly.

"Lead on." Paine nodded, and walked out the door. Stree followed, and realized he wasn't wearing any footwear, so he grabbed the first pair he saw, a pair of leather boots with metal guards on them that went halfway up his shin. He continued walking, but stopped when he found a suit of armor in the hallway. Paine, not noticing, continued walking, and left Stree all alone. He stared at the armor for a moment, then grabbed the metal shoulder guard off the suit, and attached it to the left shoulder of the leather vest that he wore. He also noticed that the suit had a belt that had armor running down the right leg attached to it, and grabbed that too. He clipped the belt around his waist, and tightened the straps that secured it to his leg, over his pants. Even with all of the armor covering his body, he found that he could still move easily, and, satisfied that most of his disfigurements were covered, turned to walk to the main room. He was overcome with a feeling of nausea for a moment, and held his right arm out to brace himself against the wall. Then he noticed the scars running all across his arm. His mind flashed to an image of the fiend on the airship vomiting all over it, and he realized that it must have done more damage than he though. He looked around for a second, and found a short black cape hanging off the shoulder of another suit of armor, and grabbed it, fastening it to his right shoulder. He looked down, and found that it covered his arm well enough, and could be thrown back over his shoulder when he needed to fight. Now satisfied that no one would throw up upon sight of him, Stree walked into the main hall.

When he entered he found a blonde woman in a very revealing dress talking animatedly to the group of people from the airship, with a man with a cybernetic left arm and leg standing just behind her. He walked over to the group, but was stopped but two men, a fairly short fat man with a huge shield on his back, and a tall, thin man with two long-barreled guns hanging from shoulder holsters.

"You can't come in, this is a private meetin'," announced the fat one.

"Indeed. The boss would be most displeased if you interrupted," added the thin one.

"Move," said Stree, in a quiet but forceful voice.

"You're orderin' us?" the fat one asked incredulously.

"Only that boss has that privilege," said the thin one.

"Boys?" asked the blonde. "It's alright, let him through." The two men immediately broke to either side, and Stree walked on through. He spotted Kam, and moved straight over to her side, where she unstrapped his sword from her back and handed it to him.

"Nice look," she whispered. Stree grunted, and turned to face the rest of the group, placing the sword on his back.

"So here he is, the man of the hour," announced Wakka. "I can't believe it, man. You single-handedly defeated a fiend that took seven of us last time."

"Dying once would have to make it weaker," he said quietly, uncomfortable with all the attention on him.

"Oh, modest too," said the blonde.

"Who are you?" asked Stree bluntly.

The blonde looked like she'd caught a blitzball to the face. "You don't know me? The great Leblanc?"

The man, Nooj, Stree assumed from what Paine had said, laughed, and limped forward to put an arm around Leblanc. She turned around, and looked at his face for a second, then turned back and smiled at Stree. "Thanks, love."

Stree made a questioning noise at this, then found Rikku at his elbow. "Nooj doesn't smile often. She loves it when he does," she said, hanging off his elbow. He growled and pulled his elbow back, and Rikku jumped back over next to the High Summoner.

"So what's going on?" he asked. Yuna turned to face, him, and he saw Tidus stare at his outfit.

"Gippal is seeing if he can fix the engines, so all we can do at the moment is wait." As if hearing his name mentioned, Gippal burst through the door.

"I got news," he announced. "Nice clothes, man," he added upon sight of Stree. "The engines are shot. Looks like we walk from here." Upon hearing this, Rikku let out a great groan.

"Not the Thunder Plains!" she exclaimed.

Paine stared at her for a second. "I thought you go over your fear of lightning."

"I did, but I still don't like the Thunder Plains!" Everyone except Stree laughed at this.

"Look's like we walk then," he said. With that, he turned on his heel and started walking out.

"Hey, you, wait!" ordered Nooj. Stree turned back around as the older man limped over to him, holding something in his hand. "I was examining your weapon and remembered that I had this wristband that had the same symbol as the one on the guard of your sword. I thought you might like to have it."

Stree took his sword off his back, and examined the handle guard, and found a black symbol inside a circle on it. Strangely enough, Stree found that he recognized the symbol, but couldn't remember where from. He looked at the wristband in Nooj's hand, and took it, muttering thanks as he did so. He slipped it on his right hand, then covered his arm up again.

"That wristband supposedly has magical properties, but I can't figure out what they are." Stree nodded at Nooj's words. Nooj turned around and was handed something by Leblanc, then he turned back to Stree. "Hear. Take this bracer. It's enchanted to ward off fire, and I think you can do without anymore burns." Stree wordlessly took the bracer, and strapped it to his left hand. He examined it, and found a metal guard on it similar to the one on his new boots, with multiple metal strips running along it.

"You are ready," rumbled a voice from somewhere behind Stree. He spun around, but couldn't find the owner of the voice.

"What's wrong?" asked Nooj, somewhat startled by Stree move.

"Nothing." He took one final look, then turned to Kam. "We should go. Anyone who's following, try to keep up." With that, he turned and walked out the door.

"Not much of a charmer is he?" remarked Leblanc.


	16. New Tricks

After stocking up on supplies, Stree led the group to the entrance of the thunder plains. He was just about to walk out, when he heard the wailing of a child. He turned around and found the mage trying to calm down the baby in her arms. He moved over to Kam.

"What's the mage's name?"

"Lulu, why?" asked Kam.

Stree turned to Lulu. "Lulu, take your child and go home. You're no use to me if you have to look after it, and I won't be responsible for it's death."

"Stree!" started Kam. "She's been doing all right so far!"

"It's alright," replied Lulu calmly. "He's right. I've spent too long without training to be of any use at the moment. Wakka, too."

"Hey, I'm as fit as I ever was, eh?"

Lulu took a few steps backwards, and motioned for Wakka to follow. "In that case, you can protect me on our way back to Besaid."

Looking slightly disappointed, Wakka followed Lulu. "I don't like it," he said.

"Hey, Lulu, Wakka. If you get a chance, can you bring our Airship to Bevelle?" asked Kam. Lulu nodded, and continued walking away.

Stree nodded, then turned to Rin. "Are you any good in a fight?"

Rin laughed. "You don't stay alive as long I without learning a trick or two."

"Good. Everyone else get ready." With that, he turned and walked out into the cold rain and harsh wind, the rest of the group following quickly.

As they moved along the plains, dodging random burst of lightning, Stree started to get a little uncomfortable.

"Why haven't we been attacked yet? We're almost halfway across, and not one fiend has gone for us," came Tidus.

"You'd prefer it if we were attacked?" asked Kam.

"Yes." Stree scowled, but – though he hated to admit it – he agreed with Tidus. It seemed unnatural.

"I know why," announced Rikku. She held out her arm. "I'm wearing a charm bangle. It keeps them away!" Stree's scowl deepened. Charm bangles emitted a low-pitched sound that humans, couldn't hear, though all types of fiends hated it. But they tended to wait just outside its working radius – about twenty meters – for the person to turn it off, and then they attacked.

"I don't think that's it. Fiends tend to wait a little distance away with those things. At the moment, there's not one in sight," he said.

"Ever get the feeling that you're walking into a trap?" asked Kam.

Stree started looking around, and noticed a cloud of dust coming up over the cliff to their right. "I think it just got sprung. I hate this." He grabbed his sword – he had taken the chance to examine the marks on the side, and found it was called 'Hasamune', and held it at the ready.

Kam looked at him for a second, as the fiends came steadily closer, making the whole ground rumble and shake. "Apparently, you really hate this," she said.

Stree looked down, and noticed sparks coming off his hands. He smiled a smile that had no humor in it. He placed the Hasamune on his back, and held his hands out in front of him. He let his mind slide deeper and deeper into the black hole of rage that threatened to take him constantly, and allowed it to fuel his strength. He felt a tangling sensation on his hands, and heard gasps coming from everyone else. He opened his eyes, and saw that his hands had turned into raging balls of fire. He then started walking towards the fiends.

""Stree! What're you doing?" shouted Kam, running after him.

"I have to do this," replied Stree, in a husky voice. He willed the flames surrounding his hand for a second, and created a gigantic dome of crisscrossed flames around everyone else, trapping them there.

"Stree! Let us out!" shouted Rikku.

"You'll be safe in there," he replied, surprising himself.

"You'll need help!" shouted Paine, jumping back when she touched the cage with her sword, and saw tongues of flame lash out.

"No I won't." The fiends were almost on him now, and his senses heightened, so that he could hear repeated gasping from Rikku, growling from Auron, and the strange voices that the Fiends used to communicate. When the creatures got to almost two feet away, Stree closed his eyes and let his anger almost completely take control, leaving just enough of himself to maintain the cage. Suddenly, he felt a strange pressure against his entire body, and opened his eyes to find out that not just his hand, but his entire body was alight. Everything he saw was tinted with orange. He looked at the strangely colored fiends, and saw them backing away in uncertainty. He glared at the fiends, then charged right into the middle of the pack.

"No!" shouted Kam as she watched Stree go on a suicide run into the gigantic pack of fiends. She struggled to find him again, using the flames as a beacon. But when he was in so deep that she couldn't see the raging fires, she sank to the ground, crying softly. As Yuna knelt down to console her, the rest walked right up to the edge of their fiery cage to watch.

"It's all right," said Yuna softly. "You know he's still alright if he can still manage to keep this cage up." As if to mock her, the flames flickered, then dissolved in the air. Kam started crying harder.

"Hit the deck!" said Tidus, his voice sounding shocked. Through tear-streaked vision, Kam turned her head to look, then ducked as a huge explosion sounded in the plains, and hundreds of the monsters flew in every direction. They all looked back into the middle of the explosion and saw Stree standing there, flames shooting in various paths across his body. He reached up his flame-encased hand, and grabbed his sword, swinging it around gracefully. He stood there for a few seconds, standing tall, with the blade pointing to the side, waiting for the fiends to attack. And attack they did – they all came in at him at the same time. Kam squeaked in fright, but continued to watch.

He moved almost as if in slow motion, circling around one fiend to slice another, then back stepping to take the first one out. He spun around, catching multiple creatures, then stabbed, spun again, jumped. The man, watching Stree's dance of death, smiled to himself. Though most people would have run at the first sight of so many fiends, this man knew he was in no danger. _He is beginning to learn,_ thought the man to himself. _But still more to go_. He continued to watch Stree until he was certain victory was at hand for the young man. When he was sure of this, he turned to leave, his black cloak flailing in the wind.

Stree stabbed his blade through the last fiend left in the field – a ruby dragon – and stood there silently for a second, before dropping to the ground, exhausted. The flames surrounding him flashed out of existence.

"Stree!" shouted Kam, running to him as fast as she could. He stood back up again, and started walking over to the group. Kam reached him first, and started hammering him in the chest. "Never – do – that – again – you – stupid ass!" Stree let her go, knowing it was better than having her hold it in, and watched as the rest of the group caught up.

"Wowie!" shouted Rikku.

Gippal clapped in awe. "Man, you gotta teach me that!"

"Impressive," remarked Paine, smiling at him. He smiled, a proper one thistime. Rikku looked at the both of them, then started kissing herself again. Gippal quickly stopped her though, having heard about what happened previously. Stree's smile grew.

"Wow, a real smile, Stree?"

Stree laughed softly. "I drained all of my anger away in that fight. Happiness is the only thing I can handle at the moment. Give me an hour or two to get angry again," he said in a soft, slightly pained voice.

Kam stared at him. "What? A joke? Stree, you haven't told a joke in years!"

"You want me to stop?" Kam shook her head.

"Well, since you're in such a good mood, maybe you can speak to Tidus without threatening him." Stree's smile died abruptly, and Kam thought she had pushed him in angry-mode again.

"You," he said, pointing at Tidus, who was standing a little away from the group, away from Stree. "Over there, now." Tidus turned and walked to where Stree had indicated, a little away from the group.

"You're not gonna hit again are you? Asked Tidus, only half-joking.

"Look. As much as I hate to admit this, I need you to help me here. I don't know why these things are after me and Kam, but you've saved me a couple of times, and I thank you for that. You'll probably save me again in the future too—"

"Not if you keep fighting like that."

"Shut up. So here's what I propose. You and I, we have a truce for now. Until we figure this thing out, we'll be allies. No fighting between us. But afterward, we settle this, you, me and Kam. Deal?"

Tidus laughed softly. "Not going to get much better than that I guess. Deal." He held out his hand, and Stree took it, making it official. Tidus grinned, and Stree took his hand back.

As Tidus turned to walk back, Stree laid a hand on his shoulder. "One thing though, Tidus. You so much as talk to my sister about what you did, or anything related to what the two of you did, I will kill you. Got it?"

"Relax, Stree," replied Tidus, his face going serious. "I'm not that person any more. I've changed. Do you think the old me could've have gotten someone who's pretty much royalty?" he jerked a thumb backwards at Yuna.

Stree glared. "Yes. You'd make her fall in love with you, then break her heart. You've done it before."

Tidus winced. "Yeah, but look what happened then. Never again," he said forcefully.

"Good. Come on, we have to keep moving." Stree started back towards the group.

"Sort it out?" asked Kam.

"For now," replied Tidus. Stree nodded in agreement.

"We have to…what are you doing?" he asked Auron, who was standing at the body of the ruby dragon. "And why hasn't that thing exploded yet?"

Auron reached down and grabbed at on of the dragon's twelve-inch long teeth. Using all of his strength, he pulled it right out of the thing mouth. "This fiend is the only type that doesn't explode into pyreflies upon death. It is said, that its teeth are unbreakable, and make excellent knives." Reaching into a satchel he carried, he pulled out a knife sheath and a long piece of cloth. He soaked the cloth in one of the puddles that were around the plains, then proceeded to wrap it around the base of the tooth, creating a handle. He then placed the tooth into the sheath, where it fit perfectly.

"I didn't know you used knives, old man. Aren't they too small for you?" asked Tidus.

"I don't use knives," answered Auron. He held it out to Stree. "A fight like that deserves a reward, don't you think?"

"Thanks," said Stree, taking the knife. He took it out of its cover to examine it. He held it up in the air, when a bolt of lightning shot out of nowhere, and struck it, blinding everyone for a moment. When he could open his eye again, Stree looked at the knife, which now glowed silver, and had electricity crackling across it.

"Lightning touch," said Auron. "It seems that someone like's your new weapon." Stree smiled, then sheathed the knife again, and stuck it into his belt at the back.

"Come on, we have to go."


	17. Story Time

Stree walked into the dead forests of Macalania, and immediately drew Hasamune from his back.

"What's wrong?" asked Rikku, the fear in her voice suggesting she thought another fiend attack was imminent.

"I don't know, something's just…not right here," he replied uneasily. He looked around, expecting something to jump out at them. When he found nothing, he put his weapon back, but kept his senses on full alert. "Let's go."

The group started moving slowly through the forest, but stopped at the first fork.

"Hey! Where's the rainbow bridge?" cried Rikku.

"The forest has died, Rikku," replied Yuna. "Nothing is left alive in here."

"Hope that doesn't include us," remarked Kam, shivering. "Stree's right. I'm getting a little nervous here."

"Kimarhi not worried. Kimarhi lead for now." Without another word, the Ronso stepped forward and walked into the forest.

"Hey, Kimarhi, wait!" shouted Tidus, making his voice echo menacingly off the dead crystal trees. He turned back to the rest of the group. "Come on."

"We don't have time to wait," reminded Auron gruffly. Stree nodded. The group started off again, though slowly, carefully. They continued through, still finding no sign of Kimarhi, up until they reached the exit, where they heard a loud Ronso roar.

"Kimarhi!" yelled Yuna, running forward.

"Yuna!" yelled Tidus, chasing after her along with Rikku.

"Should we go?" asked Paine.

"Why not?" asked Stree, taking Hasamune back off. The remainder of the group started running, but skidded to a stop when they found a fiend bigger than any Stree had ever seen before holding Kimarhi up in the air with a huge claw, and The other standing in front of it, ready to attack.

"What the hell is that?" yelled Stree.

"Don't know. I call first shot!" shouted Paine. Stree pulled the face guard up a bit higher on his face, then started towards it. Standing at over forty foot tall, it had a vaguely insectoid look about it, with six heavily armored legs, two pairs of wings tipped with spikes, and a wicked looking stinging tail on the back. Stree stopped suddenly, and turned back to Kam, who was moving forward as well. "Stay back. You know you can't handle this."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. Hurry up!" Stree turned and ran over to the line of waiting fighters.

"Ready?" Auron shouted over the monster's roar. "Attack together!"

"Wait someone Scan it first!" shouted Stree. "We may find a weakness!"

Sparks flew around Yuna for a second, as she focused. "Alright, it's called… Abadon! It's undead, so use restorative magic and potions!" she opened her eyes and started digging in her pack. All around him, Stree saw people going through their things for potions, or starting the casting for a cure spell. For the first time, he regretted not carrying restorative items with him. Shrugging it off, he ran in to attack, hoping to divert the beast's attention. Unfortunately, he caught too much of it, the thing swept one of it's huge arms at him, sweeping him off to the side, straight through several large trees. He hit the last tree with enough force to imprint his body shape upon it, then dropped to the ground. He stood back up, an evil smile in his eyes. "Thanks," he said, as flames engulfed his hands. He focused his malice towards the Fiend, and launched the biggest fireball he could manage at it. It was big enough though, as it had enough force behind it to throw the thing through even more trees.

"Go for it!" he shouted, summoning another fireball and launching it at Abadon. He strapped Hasamune to his back, and launched himself up in the air in a Dragoon jump shot. He sailed through the air, unstrapping the ruby dragon knife from his back, and he threw it straight at the undead monster, stabbing into its eye, half-blinding it. Suddenly, bottles of hi-potions, phoenix downs and elixirs were thrown, and Yuna cast Full-Life on it. The fiend screamed in agony as the restorative qualities of the attacks took their effect, wiping all of its undead life away, leaving disappearing pyreflies in its wake. Stree landed and walked over to where the beast died, and picked up his knife.

"We set up camp here for now!" ordered Auron.

"Well that was boring," remarked Paine, putting her sword away."

Stree smiled. "Then why are you sweating?" She glared at him, but had a smile on her face to show she was kidding. He shrugged, then turned to Kam. "You alright?"

She smiled. I was further away than everyone else, and you were the only one that got him. Stop worrying about me."

"Not a chance," he replied, the smile slipping off his face as he noticed a dull throb in his left arm.

"Holy Yevon, Stree!" shouted Kam, looking at the gaping cut on his bicep.

"Wow, didn't even feel that," remarked Stree.

"How could you miss it?" asked Paine, peering at it.

"Everyone getting a good look?" he asked.

"Yep," replied Kam. "Here." She stood up straight and handed him a bandage.

"Thanks." Kam walked away, leaving Stree alone with Paine.

"So," started Paine. "Run into gigantic hands often?"

"I'm trying to quit," mumbled Stree, struggling to wrap up his arm with one hand.

"Here," said Paine, reaching out to help. He handed her the bandage and sat back to let her wrap it up. "Wow, that's a deep cut. Who could you not notice that?"

"I was concentrating on something else."

"Wow, you can be very single-minded can't you?" Stree smiled, then nodded. He saw Paine look up at him, then hesitate and turn away, and he immediately pulled the face guard up higher.

She finished wrapping his arm, then looked back up at him, making him self-consciously push his head down further into the safety of the guard. "It's not that," she said, putting her hand under his chin, and lifting gently. "It's just… I…"

"Hey!" shouted Rikku. "Paine! Come 'ere for a sec!"

Paine turned back to Stree. "Can you handle this now?" she asked, pointing to the bandage half wrapped around his arm. He nodded, and she ran off. Wondering what she was going to say, Stree went back to wrapping his arm up.

"Man, you are blind, aren't you? She wants you bad," remarked Tidus, appearing just as Stree finished his job.

"Tidus, just because I'm not trying to kill you, doesn't mean I want to listen to anything you have to say," replied Tidus, walking over to where Kam had set up his tent.

"Come on, you were the same at school. You never noticed when someone wanted you, not even when it was completely obvious!"

"Good night, Tidus," said Stree, shutting the tent flap. As he lay back on his makeshift bed, he started thinking. It was true that he had never noticed when a girl was interested in him. He was always focused on blitzball, or something equally stupid. As he started to drift off to sleep, he wondered whether he should ask Kam…

"So, you like my brother," said Kam as Paine walked over to the campfire. It was the middle of the night, and no one else was around, so Kam thought Paine might talk. Paine slowly walked over to the fire, and sat down next to it. "Well are you?" asked Kam.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Paine.

"So yes," laughed Kam. "Don't worry, I'm not a you-hurt-him-I-hurt-you sort of person. I just wanted to know."

"Alright. Anything I should know about him?" asked Paine.

"He's pretty much oblivious to anything concerning women."

"You mean he's…"

"No, it's just… you saw how he didn't notice that gigantic cut today. He can be so focused it's scary. He's normally focused on something else, no he never notices that women want him unless they come straight out and say it."

"Great. I've never been any good at that sort of thing."

"Don't worry," replied Kam with a grin. "I've seen the way he is when he's around you. he likes you."

"Really?" asked Paine, getting up and moving closer to Kam.

"Ever since he met you, he's been in a happy mood. He hasn't been in a happy mood for years."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. He normally alternated between brooding and violent."

"Wow. How did you put up with him?"

Kam looked down at the ground. "When ever I get angry with him, I just remember how he saved my life when no one else would."

"How did he save your life?"

"Huh?"

"How did he save your life?" repeated Paine.

"Well, I was in a really bad situation. Something bad had happened tom me, and I went off wandering to be on my own. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by fiends, and I had no hope of escape. Fiends never came around much in Zanarkand, but in the forests at the side of the city, there were plenty, and guess where I wandered to. Anyway, I was surrounded by Fiends, and I was never a good fighter, so I knew I was going to die. They started attacking me, and I felt as though every bone in my body was broken. Suddenly, I heard a shout, then Stree was standing over me, facing the Fiends. Seven fiends against him. I still don't know how he survived it. Anyway, he did, and he beat them too. Then he wrapped me up in his trench coat, and carried me all the way from the middle of the forest to the hospital in the middle of the city, fighting off Fiends all the way. By the time we reached the hospital, he was in almost as bad shape as I was, but he refused to let anyone see him until I was taken care of. One of the nurses told me that he actually had a collapsed lung, and he was still able to carry me in."

"How did he find you?" asked Paine, awed by the story.

"Well, he found out what had happened to make me start wandering, and, well, I've always liked trees, so he figured id go there. Turn out my brother knows me pretty well."

"I guess that would make you want to stay with him."

"Yeah. He stayed by my bed in wheelchair every day, until I could walk again, even though it hampered his healing. He's very loyal."

"I noticed. Is that why he has the problem with Tidus?"

"Sort of. His current problem with Tidus is sort of a compound of other problems."

"Such as…?"

"I…don't think I can tell you right now. Some other time."

"Yeah, you're right, we should probably sleep. But I'll expect the answers some time."

Kam nodded. "Don't forget to tell my brother how you feel."

Paine laughed as she crawled into her tent.


	18. Hot Stuff

Stree opened his eyes to the brisk morning air, feeling distinctly unrested, though he didn't know why. Shaking his head to wake himself up properly, pulled on his pants – without the leg armor – and crawled out of his tent into the main area of the camp. He looked around to make sure no fiends were about, and found nothing. Taking the opportunity, he reached back into his tent, grabbed Hasamune, and walked over to a clearing, where he started going through some basic katas. He started off slowly, but got faster and faster, until he was swinging the blade with all of his strength and speed. He focused his senses to the point that he could feel everything, he let his mind disappear completely, and started performing the movements with more speed than he had ever managed before. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, he fellt a presence behind him, and he turned and swung, using all of his control to stop the blade just an nch from Auron's neck. To his credit, the older man didn't even flinch.

"Nice reflexes," remarked the samurai dryly.

"What do you want?" asked Stree bluntly.

"I thought you might want to talk."

"About what?" replied Stree,anting to return to his katas.

"Your seemingly natural ability to summon fire."

"What about it?"

"You need to learn to control it."

"I don't need any help to control it," said Stree. "I don't need help with anything. Not from you, especially not from Blondie. So don't bother trying."

"Then why did you drop the cage surrounding us at the thunder plains?"

"I—," he realized that he didn't mean to do it, but he didn't want to say anything. "I don't need any help

"Fine, then when it fails, be it on your own head."

"How do you know it's going to fail?" asked Stree, turning back around to stare Auron straight in the eye.

Auron met his stare openly. "Just a hunch. Be careful."

"Are you threatening me, Old man?"

"No. But I'd your sister if I were you."

"Touch her, and I'll make you believe that you should've stayed gone."

Auron laughed shortly, then turned to walk away.

Stree watched him go with a burning desire to throw the sword right at the man's back, but decided against it. Realizing he wasn't going to get the chance to practice anymore, he turned to go back to is tent and get changed. But found Paine and Kam standing on the edge of the clearing, watching him.

Suddenly wary of Auron's presence, Stree quickly made his way over to the two. "Something wrong?" he asked, looking out for the samurai. To his surprise, Kam laughed.

"Lighten up, brother." She slapped him on the shoulder, then turned and started to walk away. "Ill leave to two of you alone. Good luck."

Stree watched her leave, keeping an eye out for Auron, until Paine cleared her throat. He trned to fasce her,and watched silently as she started fidgeting with he hands. "Are you alright?"

"Stree, uh, I just uh, wanted you to…"

Though the sense that something was wrong wiehged heavily on his mind, Stree couldn't help but feel a little better at the sight of Paine acting the way she was.. "Think before you say each word," he joked.

"I'm trying," replied Paine, only half-joking. "Stre, I just wanted to say, if we get out of this mess, alive, would you, uh…"

Suddenly,a scream pierced the air, and fire erupted off to the side of them, engulfing most of the camp.

"Damn it!" shouted Paine angrily.

"Get down!" he shouted to Paine, throwing them both off to the side as bullet came whizzing past them. He grabbed his sword off his back, and turned to face their unseen foes.

Stree knew that the two of them were in a bad situation, but his stomach dropped when Auron strode through the flames, and started walking towards them. He dropped into a fighting stance, instinctively putting himself between Auron and Paine.

"Calm down," replied Auron. "It was a bomb. It self-destructed."

"Where's everyone else?"

"They're fine. They—," his statement was cut short by the bullets flying towards them. Auron grunted as several exploded through his shoulder, and dropped to the ground.

"Auron! Shouted Paine, running over to him.

"No, Don't!" shouted Stree, but he was drowned out by the screams of incoming Fiends.

Tidus watched idly as Yuna sat next to the spring where they shared their first kiss.

"Watcha doin?" he asked.

"Huh?" She jumped. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"'Bout what?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"Oh, nothing really, just remembering. And wondering."

"I think you'll have to be a bit more specific if you want me to understand."

Yuna laughed, but her laughter died away, and she stared across the lake.

"What?" asked Tidus.

"I just saw someone staring at us."

"Huh, where?" asked Tidus, looking around.

"He's gone. He motioned something, then left."

"What motion did he make?" asked Tidus, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Sort of a 'look behind you' wave," replied Yuna, making the hand motion herself.

Tidus and Yuna slowly turned around to see a slobbering bright orange face of a Mage Hater Dragon about thirty centimeters from their faces

Stree glared at the fiends as they came barreling down at them. "Paine get back! You're unarmed!"

"Are you crazy? He'll die!" she yelled, pointing down at Auron.

"So will you if you stay there! Move!" he grabbed Paine, then threw her back behind him, just as the fiends reached him. Holding Hasamune in his left hand, he grabbed the dagger from its sheath and sliced it across the throat of a bite bug, the first one unlucky enough to get near him. He turned and swiped both blades across the chest of a Wolf, narrowly missing having his eyes scraped out in the process.

"Watch out!" shouted Auron. Stree turned, then ducked as a huge rock came flashing towards his head. Stree glared, then threw his dagger at the Wendigo that had thrown it. The thing runted, then toppled, and Stree turned back to the rest of them. He punched his way through one of the beast with his swords, and saw something that made his blood go cold. Auron was standing and had hold of Kam, who was struggling in his powerful. Stree fought the monsters, though it was as though he was on automatic pilot, he was watching what unfolding between his sister and the samurai. He watched as she tried harder to struggle away, but she couldn't escape.

Then Auron knocked her to the ground.

Burning rage exploded within Stree like a furnace, and he let loose a scream as his his muscles stretched and tore, growing at an incredibly fast rate. His hair flailed wildly into his eyes as his screamed, but he didn't care. Pulses of heat and fire erupted from his body, driving back the fiends. Auron and Kam had stopped fighting, and were watching in terror as Stree's body twisted and contorted until his chest was as big as a shoopuf keg. Unnerved by the fire and screams, the Fiends started to bolt, but stopped suddenly as Stree's screaming stopped abruptly. The turned around with an eerie synchronization. It wasn't until they started floating up in the air that the thers realized they weren't doing it themselves. Stree stood still, his arms crossed staring at the fiends with the burning rage he called his own. He let his arms drop, then held one out to the side, and the dagger he had dropped earlier shot into his hand. He held it up like a throwing knife, and everyone, Find and human alike watched in terror as fire swirled up around the blade, heating it to the point where it was red-hot. Then Stree grinned, a feral grin that held no happiness for anyone, and threw the knife.

Screams were heard from all of the fiends as the knife punched through their bodies, then twirled and shot towards other fiends. The knife ricocheted of trees in it's chaotic journey setting everything it touched alight, including the corpses of the monsters it stabbed through. Not until every last fiends was dead did the dagger stop moving. It blew through the stomach of a Behemoth, and came to rest in Stree's hand. Kam and Auron watched as Stree stared at the knife in his hand .

Then his head came up to stare at Auron.

Tidus jumped back, pulling Yuna with him. The dragon laughed, something Tidus was sure that Fiends couldn't do. Tidus smiled and walked towards the beast.

"Tids, no!" shouted Yuna.

"Yuna, stay back," said Tidus, the grin on his face getting larger with every second.

"Tidus, why are you smiling like that?"

"You'll see. It something I picked up while I was on the Farplane. A guy named Vincent showed me." He reached the Fiend who, surprisingly, stood there as if waiting for what he would do. "Hey ugly. Watch this."

Tidus stepped backwards, and took off his jacket, leaving his chest completely bare. He closed his eyes, and concentrated, and slowly patches of dark blue fur started spreading across his chest, while his chest, along with the rest of his body, grew larger. Huge black diamond claws sprang out of his fingers, and wings erupted from his back. He opened his eyes, and Yuna found that they were now jet black His hair grew out, and the longer it grew, the more colorful it got, until it was flaming red. Then his face started morphing, until his chin was long and pointed, and his ear were pressed flat to the side of his head. He grinned, and his teeth started growing until they were as sharp-looking as his claws.

"So," said Tidus once he had finished. "How do you like it?" Yuna noticed that his voice had gotten a lot deeper.

"And you called me ugly," growled the Dragon.

"What the…?" gasped Yuna. The dragon turned to face her, and laughed again.

"I'm no normal Fiend. Even in such a powerful state, you friend will stand no chance against me."

"Oh yeah?" retorted Tidus. "We'll see!"

He flapped his wings once, then shot straight at the Dragon.


	19. Stony Feelings

Stree let out a strange, deep growl as he advanced slowly on Auron and Kam. As he walked, he flipped the knife over and over in his hand. Auron smiled, and said something, though it was impossible to make out over the noise of the flames and Stree's laughter. He grabbed his Masamune and jammed it into the ground, then brought his left arm out of his jacket, and turned to face Stree.

The dragon reared back a bit as Tidus shot towards it, then swiped straight out, but Tidus ducked to the side, and slammed straight into the dragon's side. The Mage Hater grunted, then spun around and smacked Tidus through a series of trees. Tidus stood back up, howled, then flew straight up in the air. He howled again, and gathered a ball of what looked like green lightning in his hands. He then reached up above his head, and threw it straight at the dragon. Using speed faster than anything Yuna had ever seen before, Tidus flew straight down at her, grabbed her in his powerful hands, then shot away as the blast hit. But the dragon had also moved, and was flying sideways out of the way, when he felt something grab hold of his tail. He growled, and tried to pull away, but the grip on his tail was too strong, and he crashed straight through the base of a tree. But he didn't stop there, Tidus continued to swing around and around, punching him through several more trees, until the force became too much and the dragon's tail was ripped completely from the rest of his body! The Mage Hater continued his flight through more trees, then crashed into a crystal rock. Tidus didn't let up the attack though, and flew straight into the dragon, pushing him through that as well. The dragon lay prone on the ground, and Tidus walked over to it, and unsheathed his black diamond claws, ready to deliver the final blow.

He reached his arm back, and was just swinging it when the dragon reached out with one hand, yelling "Stop!" Tidus halted, if only from confusion. Word had it that Fiends were bloodthirsty creatures that lived only for the kill.

"That is enough," said the dragon in a calm voice. It pushed it self up off the ground and stood in front of Tidus, and Yuna, who had come over to see what had happened. "You are good enough. Not good enough to beat me, but then, nobody's that good. But you'll do. Farewell."

With that, a flash of white light erupted into the air, and then Tidus and Yuna were alone. Tidus turned around, and let his body changed back to its original form. "What in the name of blitzball was that all about?" All Yuna could do was shrug.

Stree continued his slow advance on Auron, when he felt something hit him in the back. He growled again, and raised his hands and swung around, ready to smack whoever it was that hit him. He stopped suddenly though, when he saw that it was Paine standing there, Hasamune in her hands. He slowly reached out for her, his hands shaking, and touched her cheek. Suddenly, he felt a hot pain lash across his back, and saw Auron standing there, his sword just touching the ground as though he had just finished an attack. Stree was, through the haze of his mind, just thinking how strange it was, when whole world turned grey.

He stood amongst the trees, watching as Stree turned to stone before his very eyes. He shook his head. _It is a good thing your allies can protect you for now_, he thought. _You would have no chance on your own. Not yet._ He then jumped up, grabbed one of the branches above him, and disappeared into the forest.

"What the hell did you do to him?" screamed Kam, running over to Stree's rock solid – literally – body.

"Relax," replied Auron. "I had to have him like this for now. He's too volatile at the moment to think clearly."

"Hey we're ba—what did we miss?" asked Tidus as they ran into the clearing, and watched the slowly dying fires, then a petrified Stree.

"We had a little trouble," replied Paine.

"A little bit of Fiend action," continued Kam.

"We have to figure out why this is happening," stated Yuna bluntly.

"I agree. Fighting as a pack is very uncommon for Fiends, let alone on a scale this big, with such a variety of fiends that by all accounts hate each other."

"Which means that someone is controlling them," said Tidus.

Suddenly, Rikku, Gippal and Rin burst into the clearing, their clothing tattered and their bodies bloodied.

"Let me guess," said Paine. "Fiends?" The three Al Bhed were so completely drained of energy that all they could do was nod.

"I think the first thing we should do is go to Bevelle. Hopefully the walls will protect us for a little bit of time."

"That's if Baralai'll even let us in. We seem to run up a pretty good damage bill wherever we go," stated Rikku, after catching her breath.

"Nah, Baralai's never turned away someone in need," replied Gippal.

"Alright then, it has been decided," said Auron. "We should pack up our things."

"Well, wait. What about Stree?" asked Kam.

"I'll carry him," replied Auron.

"Why not just un-petrify him?" asked Tidus.

"It's too dangerous at the moment. Come on, let's go."

While the others turned away to pack up he remainder of the camp, Auron grabbed a rope to tie around Stree's hulking body.

"Auron," said Kam, running back over to him. "Why did he go nuts like that?"

"He didn't trust me. When the fiends attacked, he thought I brought them, then he saw what he thought was me hitting you."

"Okay, I can see how he'd go nuts, but how come he went so big and crazy?"

"It's his Berserker nature."

"He's a Berserker?"

Auron smiled. "You've seen how he can react when he's angry. The flames and all. That's a partial manifestation of his Berserker side. That released the majority of it."

"Wow," breathed Kam. "Wait, what do you mean by majority?"

"If he was in full Berserker state, there would have been no way the petrification would never have worked on him."

"So why cant you take him out of that state yet?"

"Because he'll try to kill me, and though he's not fully in control, he's still strong enough to do that."

Kam nodded, then went back to her packing.

As the motley group trudged along the path of the dead crystal forest, Kam found herself continually staring at Auron, watching as he struggled to carry the stone Stree on his back. In her mind, she kept flashing back to what had set Stree off in the first place. A fiend had rushed at her from behind as she argued for Auron to go help Stree fight. He had seen the beast though, and knocked her out of the way. She couldn't help but notice how hard it would have been for Stree to miss that. But she shook those thoughts away; all they did was raise more questions. The group turned onto the road leading to Bevelle, and Kam suddenly had no trouble at all forgetting. There, at the gateway to Bevelle, stood quite possibly the most handsome man she had ever met! He stood there, dressed in green robes, with pure white spiked hair, until Yuna reached him, then he bowed very gracefully.

"Lady Yuna, a pleasure, as always," he said in a soft, yet compelling voice.

"Ah, cut the crap Baralai; act like a good soldier, and just salute!" Gippal said loudly, and jogged over to him. "How ya going Mister Navigator?"

Baralai smiled. "Not bad, Mister Mechanic. I hear you've been getting these people into trouble lately?"

Gippal's mouth dropped open in mock horror. "Me? I was living a peaceful life then these guys showed up at my door with a couple hundred friends in tow. And that guy trying to go nuts!" he finished, pointing at the statue of Stree that Auron was just now dropping to the ground.

Baralai laughed softly. "I think we should go inside, and figure out what's going on." He bowed to Yuna, then gestured for them to enter the huge building. Kam walked past him, hoping he wouldn't notice her shallow breathing. He did, though. "Excuse me, but are you alright?"

Kam nodded. "Uh, I'm fine, thank you," she stammered.

Baralai stared at her a moment more, then smiled. "Forgive me. I'm Baralai."

"Uh, Kam, Kam Kry'tal." She accepted Baralai's held out hand. As Baralai turned to leave, Tidus snuck up behind Kam.

"Wow, girl, I never knew you to get blubbery around a guy," he remarked, draping an arm over her shoulder.

"I wasn't blubbery. And wont Stree kill you if he sees you talking to me?"

"Ah, but he is encased in stone," he laughed, pointing at the statue that for some reason was pointing at them.

A mischievous grin appeared on Kam's face. "Do you know _for sure _that he can't see you?"

Tidus gulped, looked at the statue for a second, then laughed. "Come on we should go in." Kam laughed and walked through the door.

Auron followed the rest of the group in, dragging the stone man along in his wake. "Paine," he grunted, stopping suddenly. The leather-clad woman stopped and turned to face him. "I want you there when I turn him back," he said, pointing at Stree.

"Me? Why" asked Paine.

"Because for some reason you can calm him in a way that even his sister cannot. It may be the only thing that will allow him rational thought again."

Paine nodded. "When do you want to do this?" she asked.

"As soon as possible. He needs to be involved in the planning of our next move."

_It didn't work this time_, thought Auron. _Hopefully soon, otherwise he'll have no chance_.


	20. Unwelcome Discovery

It was like opening a doorway from a stuffy bedroom into open countryside. The air on Stree's face was soft and cool, and his body felt incredibly relaxed.

Then the rage returned.

He screamed in agony as his muscles started to pulse and grow again, and his body twisted and contorted. Over his screams he could just make out someone voice, trying to get him to calm down, but it wasn't working. His muscles stopped growing, so he could stop screaming, and only then could he make out whose voice it was.

"…alm down! Stree! Calm down!" shouted Paine, reaching over to grab his shoulders and try to stop him from shaking. Gradually, the pain in his head lessened as the rage bled away, and all that was left was a sore body and tiredness.

"Sleep," he croaked, in a cracked voice.

"It's alright. You can sleep later. We need you now. Only for a little while."

Stree nodded, though that caused him enough pain to groan. "All right." He tried to sit up from where he had fallen to the ground, but could only move a little. "Feel like…lending a hand?" he laughed softly.

Paine laughed as well, and reached down to help him up. His neck went limp for a second, and his head rolled to the side, so that all he could do was stare at Paine until feeling returned. "Here," she said, draping a robe around him. "Put your arms through that unless you want everyone to see you mostly naked."

Stree was so tired that he completely missed the joke, and all he could do was nod. He somehow managed to put his arms through, then Paine put his arm around her shoulder for support. "Lead the way."

The two of them started through the halls of Bevelle's New Yevon Headquarters, and Paine started to fill Stree in about Baralai. "All you really need to know is that you should treat Baralai with every respect. I know how strong you are, but he's had a thousand years of pain run through his body and he lived to tell of it, so he's earned it." Stree nodded, and the two of them made their way to the main hall of the headquarters.

"Stree!" shouted Kam, turning from Baralai to run over an hug him forcefully.

Stree grunted in pain, then reached over to return his sister's embrace. "Hey, Sis," he said quietly. Together, Kam and Paine helped Stree over to the rest of the group. Auron made sure to stay to Stree's left, out of his field of vision.

"Stree, this is Baralai, he's helping us figure out what to do next." Baralai held out his hand to Stree.

"Pleased to meet you," he said.

Stree's head drooped forward. "Sorry if I don't shake your…hand, but…I seem to be a little…drained for energy."

Baralai nodded. "Then we should get to it so you can get some rest. I've gone over everything you have all figured out, and the only place I can think of with enough magical energy stored, is the Zanarkand Dome, Yunalesca's resting place."

"But Isaaru sealed it up," remarked Yuna

"Then we just shakey-shake our way to see him and get him to open it again," said Rikku

"It's not that easy," said Gippal. "According to various sources, Isaaru disappeared a few weeks after the Vegnagun thing, and hasn't been seen since."

"So how do we find him then?" asked Tidus. "Vegnagun happened two years ago."

"His…brothers," said Stree.

"Of course!" said Yuna. "Pacce and Maroda started up their own Sphere hunting band after the Kinderguardians all got too old."

"But where do we find them?" asked Gippal.

Baralai smiled. "Ah. As it happens, Maroda is here 'developing relations' between New Yevon and Youth League."

"Huh?" asked Kam.

"One particular New Yevon member actually. He's marrying her in two days."

"Really?" asked Yuna. Baralai nodded.

"He's staying at this hotel, if you need him quickly." He wrote down an address on a piece of paper from his pocket. He reached over to hand it to Kam. She grinned and blushed as she accepted it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to. Hopefully I shall see you all at dinner." He turned to leave, but Kam shouted out after him and followed him out.

"Want to go rest?" asked Paine. Stree shook his head.

"Take me to my room. I need to get changed."

"Are you sure you're strong enough?"

"No, but I have to. We need to go see Maroda."

Stree pulled on his leather vest armor, and attached the cloak over his shoulder, then walked back out to where Paine was waiting. "Ready to go?" she asked, clearly concerned.

"Don't worry, I'm feeling better. Really," he added with a small smile. "Let's go." Together, they walked out of the New Yevon Headquarters over to the Bevelle Hearts Hotel in the center of town. On the way, Stree spotted several Fangs and froze ready to attack, but Paine noticed and calmed him down, telling him that they were trained to pull carts of fruit along. He relaxed, but Paine noticed that he kept his hand on the dagger at his back for the whole trip, as she had made him leave Hasamune behind, as it would be too conspicuous. They finally reached the hotel, and Paine guided them to the floor where Maroda was. They stopped outside his door, and heard crashing noises coming from inside.

"Guess they couldn't wait for the honeymoon," said Stree with a smile. The two of them settled down to wait. After a couple of hours they started to get restless, when the noises stopped. They decided to wait a few more minutes before knocking. However, when the knocked, there was no answer. They knocked again, hen jumped when they heard a woman's voice call out.

"What do you want?" she asked, walking over to them.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Paine.

"I am Asrika. This is my hotel room."

"You're engaged to Maroda," said Paine.

Asrika nodded.

"Then who the hell's he in there with?" asked Stree.

Asrika moved over to the lock and ran a keycard through it. "My key isn't working," she said.

"Let's try mine," said Stree, taking a step back. He focused strength to his leg, and kicked as hard as he could, smashing his way through the door, knocking it into two pieces as he did so. The three of them ran into the hotel room, where they found all of the furniture everywhere, and bloodstains on the floor.

"Oh, Yevon," murmured Asrika quietly.

"Where's Maroda?" asked Paine.

"I'm guessing in there," said Stree quietly enough that Asrika didn't hear. "Keep her away from there just in case."

Paine nodded, and Stree made his way over to the bathroom door, where the blood seemed thickest. He opened the door, and it took all of his will to not throw up. Lying in the bath, in a mixture of water and blood, Maroda had a thin piece of wire wrapped around his throat. His hands were tied up behind his back, and his mouth was gagged shut with a sock. His normally yellow clothes were soaked with blood, giving them a color similar to a sunrise, making the picture that much less believable. Stree reached down, and lifted the corpse out of the bath, and lay him gently on the floor, then noticed the mark cut into Maroda's chest. He knew he had seen it somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. He stood up, then walked back to the door, which flew inwards as Asrika came rushing through.

"Maroda!" she screamed. She rushed over to him, but Stree grabbed her. He turned to Paine. "Call your Praetor friend." He then turned to the struggling Asrika.

"Let me go, right, now!" she shouted through sobs.

"I'm sorry, but this is for your own good." He reached out and chopped her in the base of the neck, knocking her unconscious instantly. He picked her u and moved her over to a clear piece of floor in the lounge.

Paine came running back in. "Baralai's on his way. You need any help checking the body out?"

Stree shook his head, then stopped. "Actually, yes. Maybe you can figure this out. There's this mark on Maroda's chest, but I can't remember where I've seen it."

"Let's check it out then," said Paine.

Stree led the way into the bathroom, and knelt down to point out the mark. "You recognize it?"

Paine looked at him, eyes wide open. "Stree, it's the mark that on your armor."


	21. Training

Stree and Paine walked back into the New Yevon Headquarters just as the sun was sun setting. As they walked along, all Stree could think about was a painful headache he had developed on the way back, so he was in an irritable mood. It was made a hundred times worse by the fact that the first person to see them was Rikku.

"Hey Doctor P. And Patient! Uhh, Stree, this may seem like a bit of a stupid question, but why are you covered with blood?" she asked.

Ignoring her, Stree continued walking past, straight to his room.

"What's his problem?" asked Rikku with a pout.

"It's not my place to tell. And don't ask him either, he's likely to hurt you."

"Eek. Maybe I shouldn't ask him. But can I go tell Yunie?"

Sighing, Paine nodded. She then turned and started walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" shouted Rikku.

"I have to go tell Baralai."

Tidus walked along outside the temple, looking for Yuna so they could spend a quiet moment together, when he saw Kam sitting on a bench all by herself, shivering in the cold weather.

"Is there any particular reason for this, or do you just like freezing yourself?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

Kam laughed. "I'm trying to strengthen my body. Stree w-w-worries too m-much, it'll g-g-get him killed."

Tidus smiled. "Why do you want to impress him?"

Kam laughed, and put her jacket back on. "Come on, you've done it too. Yevon, you even joined the Blitzball team to impress him, even though you sucked."

"Something Jecht reminded me of repeatedly. But I see your point. But just so you know, freezing doesn't strengthen you, it just makes you weaker. Ask Baralai if you can use his gym? That place worked wonders for me."

"Are you kidding? You're smaller than you were when we went to High School."

Tidus laughed. "Well, enough insults for me. I'm going to go find Yuna."

"Have fun," said Kam as Tidus walked away.

Deciding to take Tidus's advice, Kam walked towards the New Yevon Gym, hoping that Stree wasn't in there. To her surprise, it was actually Baralai in there. The normally reserved Praetor was busily and methodically ripping apart a sturdy looking dummy. Kam in awe as he flipped backward, kicking it in the jaw, then landed a few feet back, and threw a knife, impaling it straight through the forehead. He then ran forward, and launched into a flying kick, driving the blade through the dummy's head.

"Wow," said Kam. Startled, Baralai looked around, and saw that Kam was watching him. As he stood there, Kam couldn't help but notice just how much muscle the Praetor's tunic normally hid. Realizing she was staring, she caught her self and shook her head. "Nice moves. I'm impressed."

"Thank you for your words, but I'm not in a league close to Tidus or your brother."

Kam smiled. "Maybe not, but you have a job. You really don't want to know just how much those two put into their sword fighting. And just so you know, I think you could put up a fight against one of them."

"Really?"

"Tidus, maybe. Definitely not Stree."

Baralai laughed, then walked over and put a shirt on, yet another strange sight after only seeing him in his Praetor's tunic. "Yes, I heard about your adventures in the forest."

"Oh yeah, so much fun. Especially with Stree watching to make sure I don't get in harm's way. Honestly, you'd think I was a cripple."

"No offense intended, Kam, but according to details I heard, you almost were."

"Who told you that?" asked Kam, suddenly suspicious.

"Tidus. I made him tell me any past history that I though might help explain why Stree acted the way he did in the forest. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. What else did he tell you?"

"He also told me about the unique relationship you three have with each other."

Kam laughed. "Pretty screwed up, huh?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I've heard stranger stories."

"I suppose. Hey, can I, uh, use this place for a while?"

"Of course. Need any help?"

"I'd ask you to spar with me, but you'd probably kill me."

Baralai laughed. "I could show you some moves if you want. No contact, so there's no chance of you getting hurt. Unless you make the dummy angry."

"Show away," said Kam

"Kam? Kam!" Stree's voice echoed throughout the small forest menacingly. Unnerved, he gripped the handle of his Graviton Hammer a little tighter. "Kam!"

He pushed his way through a clump of bushes, and jumped when he heard a scream, then a thump. His heart racing, Stree hacked his way through the rest of the bushes, and ran in the direction he thought the scream came from. There were more thumps, off to his right, and he quickly turned in that direction. He continued on, but now the screams were coming from behind him. He spun around, and found his sister lying on the ground; dirt mixed with blood all over her ripped clothes and cut body. He looked around and found seven Fangs staring at him, growling softly. With a desperation borne of an instinct to protect her, he rushed straight at the first Fiend. It followed suit, launching right at him. Stree ducked to the right, and lifted his blade, intending to catch the first one in the stomach, but his blade never got there, as he was tackled to the ground by another one. He kicked it right on the sensitive part of it's muzzle, then flipped himself to his feet, and stabbed his sword straight through its eye. Suddenly, he felt something rip into his leg. He looked down and found yet another of the blasted beasts tearing through the outside of his trench coat and through his pants leg, ripping the skin beneath. He grunted in pain, and dropped, driving his elbow into the things skull. Satisfied with the crunch the sounded when he made contact, he ripped the body off and threw it at one of the other beasts, then turned back to the remaining five, but was horrified when he saw they had returned their attention to Kam. Screaming in rage, he ran at them, slashing right through one before they'd even realized he was that close, the other four jumped on him however, biting and clawing at him. He dropped his sword and started trying to push them away, when he felt all of the breath leave his body. He looked down and found one of the Fangs burying its face into his chest, leaving a big hole when it was thrown back. Seriously pissed off now, Stree bucked and kicked until they were all off him, then grabbed his sword and, using as much strength as his torn body could muster, launched his overdrive, completely decimating the four beasts. He quickly placed his sword back on his back, and rushed over to Kam. He rolled her over gently, searching for something that would show she was still alive. He put his head near her mouth, and tried to hear breathing. When he heard nothing. He panicked, and grabbed her wrist to feel for a pulse.

"No," moaned Stree, when he could find nothing. He picked up his sister's lifeless, body, tears dripping down his face as he did so. Suddenly, a deep laugh started echoing all around him. He turned and found himself staring at a black shadow. As he stared at it, fear crept into his body, despite his attempts to control it, and the wraith like figure grew larger and larger. When it was so big it took up most of the forest, and rushed at him, enshrouding him in darkness. Fiery pain coursed through his body, running in and out of the many wounds he had sustained at the fangs, and he screamed in agony. The shadow shouted his name mockingly. "Stree! Stree!" then the darkness overtook his vision. "Stree! Stree!"

"Stree! Wake up! Stree!"

With a shout, Stree and jumped out of bed, sweat dripping off his body.

"Stree! Calm down!"

Whirling, Stree grabbed whoever it was that was speaking by the throat and pushed them up against the wall. Then, realizing what he was doing, stepped back, dropping the person to the ground.

"Wowie. Maybe you should get a dream catcher or something, Stree."

It was then that he realized it was Rikku. His hand started wanting to clamp back around her throat. "What do you want?" He asked, his throaty voice surprising him.

"I heard you screaming really loudly, and I came to see what was killing you."

"Thanks for your concern, but I don't need it."

"Hmph. Well don't ask me for help next time you're in trouble." With that, she turned and left. As he watched her leave, Stree noticed the door barely hanging by its hinges. Rikku must've kicked it in when she heard him screaming. He got changed into his armor, then started to walk out the door, when a hand pushed him back in.

"We need to talk," stated Auron blandly. Stree looked around for his Hasamune, but it was across the other side of the room. Auron didn't appear to have his weapon on him, but that didn't mean much.

"You'd better have a damn good explanation for what you did."

"I pushed her to the ground, if you'd watched for a second more, you would've seen the fiend behind her that I killed. You can check it out with her, if you like."

"I get the feeling that there's something else behind this. I want you to tell me."

"What you want isn't always what's best for you. You'll have to wait. But enough of that. I came to tell you we're leaving in a couple of hours. You may want to pack your things."

Stree nodded, then pointed to the door. Taking the hint, Auron walked back out. Stree turned around and threw his tent into his pack, and grabbed his sword then walked out, going to the gym.

Okay, so you already know most of the basic moves, so I'll get right to the advanced things," said Baralai "This one is called the Glint. The way it works, is that it looks like it's growing, which distracts the opponent, which then allows them to be hit."

"But it doesn't grow does it?" asked Kam.

Baralai shook his head. "No. the user just spins it faster, and slowly lets his hand slide to the end of the staff, then as it looks like it's shrinking, he's just moving his hands back towards the center. Here. I'll show you."

He moved back a few paces, and proceeded to do the move. It missed Kam by roughly three inches. Unfortunately, Stree walked in at the same time it happened.

"Hey!" he shouted.

"Hi Stree," said Kam.

"What are you doing? He could've taken your head off!"

"Excuse me, Stree, but there really is no need to worry. I was in full control all the time," said Baralai.

"I don't care. And what the hell do you know about fighting? You're a religious leader!"

"I know a fair bit, or I wouldn't have been able to get into the Crimson Squad."

"I don't know what that is, and I don't care, but I don't want my one remaining family member to be killed because you lost control. If you want to prove how good you are, you fight me."

"If that is your wish. Kam shall referee, so that neither of us is killed."

Stree nodded, and grabbed the Hasamune off his back.

Stree and Baralai faced off, Against Stree's Hasamune, Baralai's quarterstaff looked pitifully weak, but Kam knew better having used it herself a few minutes ago.

"Fight." She said.

Surprisingly, Baralai attacked first, jumping off to the side, and swinging straight at Stree's midsection, Stree ducked and swung at the middle of the staff, but Baralai moved to it bounced off the metal plating. Baralai then spun around and jabbed right at Stree's midsection again, but Stree twisted sideways and grabbed onto the staff, then threw it and Baralai halfway across the room. Baralai picked himself up, dusted himself off, then ran straight at Stree. As he ran he started spinning the staff around over his head. When he was only two meters away from Stree, he stopped, but his staff didn't. it kept moving forward in a bigger circle, until it smacked Stree right in the face, launching him into a stack of barbells. Having dropped his sword, Stree was now weaponless, so he grabbed the bar of one of the weights, slid the weights off it, then charged, using is like a staff. Baralai started spinning his staff again, but Stree was ready for it and brought his own up to deflect the blow, then spun around and swept Baralai's legs right out from under him, making him land hard on the ground. He groaned, but when he saw Stree standing over him with the makeshift staff raised over his head, he flipped himself up and back, narrowly missing the shoot, which shattered the wooden floor. Counting his blessings, Baralai brought his staff up to deflect another shot from Stree, then ducked and slashed his staff straight up at Stree's chin, Stree saw it and dodged it though, which left Baralai vulnerable, and Stree smashed his staff straight into Baralai's side, cracking a couple of ribs, and throwing him a considerable distance. When he landed, Stree dropped the weapon he was holding, and walked over to him.

"Kam," he said. Taking the cue, Kam ran up and cast Curaga on Baralai. Stree then held out his hand, helping the Praetor up.

"I was wrong," he said. "You are a very capable fighter. I think I can trust you. But don't purposefully hurt her, or I'll do the same to you."

"Of course," said Baralai.

Stree nodded. "I'll leave you two to your lesson then."

He then walked out, leaving Kam and Baralai alone once more.


	22. The Shadow Stalker Returns

Gippal wandered around the courtyard, intending to go to the gym before they left, when he was noticed Paine staring at something off in the distance.

"What is it?"

"It looks like an airship," replied Paine. "But its coming in way too fast."

As if too prove beyond a doubt that what Paine said was true, wind started whipping around them, as gigantic engines, powered up to full, suddenly pounded against Gippal's eardrums, prompting him to duck down.

"I think I've seen that airship before," shouted Paine over the noise, ducking down next to him.

"You know where?"

"Luca, registered under—,"

"Me!" shouted Stree from behind them. They turned around in surprise. "It must have the mage and her husband on it!" The three turned back to watch it come bursting towards the landing zone. When it was directly over the top, the black ship started to drop like a stone, but stopped roughly twenty metres from the ground, settling gently to the ground. "Have to love automatic braking," muttered Stree, running over to check his ship.

By the time he reached thwe landing platform, everyone else had gathered, even Kam and Baralai, who were looking as though they had been in the middle of a very hard workout. They were sweating and panting as though they'd sprinted a forty-kilometer marathon. Stree ignored everyone else and ran forward, slapping the release button for his ship. The door opened and the first thing he heard was a screaming baby. Realizing something was wrong when no one tried to stop it, he ran into the ship, closely followed by Kam, then Yuna. He made his way to the cockpit, while Yuna and Kam bolted for the sound of the baby, which seemed to be coming from the cabins. Ignoring it, he entered the cockpit, wondering what sort of scene he'd find in there. He looked around, and found nothing out of the ordinary, which surprised him. Then he noticed something flapping around one one of the pilot's seats. He moved ver to it and swung the chair around, finding a note stuck to the chair by way of a knife sticking through it. He read it through once.

_Kry'tal,_

_Evrae was Test number one, this is number two. You'll find us at Baaj._

_Have fun._

He reread the note again, trying to remember what Evrae was. Then it hit him. The gigantic monster that had attacked Gippal's airship as they made their escape. He turned and headed back out of the ship, the note in hand.

"Did anyone find Lulu?" asked Yuna. "Or Wakka?"

Everyone shook their heads. "I didn't find anything," replied Kam.

"What's that, Stree?" asked Tidus. Stree lifted up the note and read it out.

"Well, that's a little strange," said Kam. "I… wait a minute, what's that on the back?"

Stree turned it around and saw a picture on the back. It showed two masked men, standing next to Wakka and Lulu, who were blindfolded, and tied up next to each other.

"Oh, no," whispered Yuna. Tidus, rushed to catch her and her legs dropped from under her, and she fell to the ground.

"Lose the picture!" whispered Paine.

Stree dropped the picture into his pocket, and asked why.

"Lulu is the closest thing Yuna has to a sister. She means the world to her. And Wakka is the brother."

"Stree," choked Yuna. "Please, I need your airship. I have to help them."

"Yunie, no! You won't be able to get there alone. I'm coming," replied Rikku.

"No, everyone's staying here," ordered Stree. "This message was for me. I'll get them."

His plan shocked everyone, including himself. Until now, the only people he would have done anything to protect were Kam and himself, and now he would be going to an unknown place to get two people he barely knew?

"Not by yourself," said Auron. "You're still unstable. You could lose control like you did in the woods, and then everyone would be lost."

"Then what do you suggest?" asked Stree with a glare.

"Tidus will go with you."

"You're kidding," said Stree and Tidus at the same time.

"Tidus is as fast and quiet as you are, well, until he talks. But he is as good as you, and he can keep you sane until you get them."

"Or he'll send me nuts quicker."

"He goes anyway. It's the safest option."

"Fine, he can come." He turned towards his ship and walked up the ramp. At the top, he stopped, then turned around to face Tidus. "You coming?"

Tidus hurried to catch up.

"Uhh, Stree, what exactly are you doing?" asked Tidus from his vantage point at the door of the dark storage hold.

"Looking for something," replied Stree.

"And that would be…"

"These," he said, turning around to hold up three black cases, one twice as long as the others.

"How are the cases going to help us get Wakka and Lulu back?"

"It won't," said Stree, quickly losing patience. "It's what's inside that will." He moved some boxes to make space, then set the cases down on the deck. He opened them up, and Tidus whistled. "Remember those hunting trips?"

Inside the smaller cases, were two sleek black and silver handguns, which silencers, flashlights, and laser sight attachments all neatly placed in. and in the other one, a long hunting rifle, with silencer, scope, and laser sight all in there.

"I can definitely see how these will help." Stree took one of the handgun cases and passed it to Tidus.

"Let's see if you can remember how to use them." Stree said with a grin, as he threw a thigh holster. "Come on, you need to get changed."

"Well, these I remember," stated Tidus, as he put on the black turtleneck. He strapped the thigh holster on, then grabbed his Caladbolg, and strapped it to his back. "You ready?"

"Almost," replied Stree. He had painted his entire armor set black, instead of going for the turtle-neck sweater. He strapped the Hasamune to his own back, then picked up the rifle case. "You should go and say goodbye."

"You aren't going to say bye to Kam?"

"No, I'm no good at goodbyes." Tidus nodded, and ducked out of the room. Stree stood there a moment longer, then walked up to the cockpit to start the engines.

Tidus shrugged, and walked outside, to where his friends were still waiting.

"Are you two all set?" asked Kam. Tidus nodded. "Alright, see you two when you get back."

Tidus walked over to Yuna, who still had tears down her face. "Don't worry," said Tidus quietly. "We'll get them back. I promise. And hey, if I need ya, I'll whistle, okay?" Yuna laughed and nodded, then hugged him tightly. "See you guys," he said, walking back up the ramp, as the huge engines came to life with a roar.

"You finished now?" asked Stree as Tidus sat down in the copilot's seat.

Tidus nodded. "How long 'til we get there?"

"Roughly three hours," replied Stree. "If you want some quick training, there's a practice room in back. I'd advise it."

Tidus laughed. "You really don't want me here, do you?"

"Not really."

Tidus laughed again.


	23. Familiar Faces

"Winds seems heavier than it used to be," remarked Tidus as he and Tidus stood at the very edge of the Ruins surrounding Baaj Temple.

"That's nice," replied Stree, kneeling down to look over the edge.

"You don't think that strange at all?"

"Tidus, look where we are."

"Point."

Stree stood up for a second, then stepped forward to drop into the raging waters below.

"Hey, wait up!" shouted Tidus, running and jumping off the edge after him. He landed in the water, then broke the surface. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something's moving around here," said Stree quietly, looking down.

"Well, look where we are," smirked Tidus.

"Quiet," commanded Stree. "I –!" his reply was cut short when something grabbed him and dragged him under.

"Stree!" shouted Tidus, diving after him. He got no more than a few feet when a thick cloud of something burst around him. He looked around wildly, but was knocked backward by something that was disturbingly familiar. He grabbed his caladbolg, and swam towards the thing.

Stree hammered at the bars that held him prisoner, trying his hardest to hold his breath. He grabbed his Hasamune and started hacking at the bones, but they were too strong. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tidus swimming up towards the thing holding him. Unfortunately for Tidus, the thing saw and swatted him away as though he were a bug. Below him, Stree could feel the pressure bubbling up, and renewed his efforts to break free. But it wasn't enough. The force punched him upwards and out of the things mouth, straight at Tidus. Seizing the chance, Stree used his sword and sliced through the back of the things throat on his way out. He then collided with Tidus, though not as badly as he had feared. He shook his head and turned back around to face the monster. The thing let out a high-pitched yowl that the water made even more eerie. Using it's pain as the distraction needed, Stree moved over to one side, while Tidus went the other way. He started to move in, but something moved in front, using speed Stree had never seen before, and ran straight through him. Stree recognized it vaguely as a Tros, using it's Nautilus Charge. He spun around, summoning flames to his hand, and shot it backward blindly, then kept moving forward. He looked around to see Tidus, but all he could see was a winged, blue furred demon-looking creature. He saw it attack the big monster, so Stree did as well. The demon grabbed the thing – Geosgeano, he realized – by one of the chest bones, and started pulling it towards itself. It then grabbed another chest bone and started prying the two apart. The Geosgeano screamed in agony, and the demon looked at Stree for a second, then motioned for him to attack. Stree put his sword back on his back, and summoned the fire to his hands as he swam toward the Fiend at an incredible speed. He swam right up inside the opening created by the demon, and punched his way through the top of the Geosgeano's head, using the flames surrounding his hand to cause incredible pain. The thing screamed even louder, and the demon ripped its hands away from each other, pulling out both chest bones and started clubbing the fiend with them, spraying blood everywhere. Stree took the chance, and jammed his sword straight through the monster's left eye, causing even more blood to push out. Tired of the screaming, the demon started charging up what seemed to be an overdrive, and golden enrgy started crackling around it. It moved away a few metres, promting Stree to do so as well, then spread it's wings out. Balls of enrgy started forming on the tips, and spread out to cover the entire wing, then the demon unleashed a frenzy of cuts on the the Geosgeano, ripping multiple limbs off. As a finale, the demon gathered a ball of pure enrgy in it's hands, and held it right up against the fiend's head, then let it explode, the demon rode the blast, allowing it to push him clear of damage, while the Geosgeano was completely vaporized, leaving not even pyreflies to claim it. Stree raised his sword warily as he watched the demon. The thing howled suddenly, and it morphed shape, turning into Tidus!

Stree motioned for Tidus to follow him, then broke the surface and jumped up onto a rock ledge. Tidus followed and Stree stared at him for a second. "What the hell was that?" he asked finally.

"What you mean the Metamorphosis? It's what happens to me when under extreme stress, like you and your fire thing. Sort of an over-overdrive. I learnt it when I was inn the Farplane."

"You can control it?" asked Stree.

"Yeah. It took a bit of work. I guess the key to it was realizing that, you have all this power that you can destroy with, but you need to control it because of things that are worth preserving."

Stree nodded. "Come on, we should keep going."

The two men were walking slowly around the ruins of the Temple, until Tidus tapped Stree on the shoulder, indicating for him to stop.

"Just down there. That was where I went in the first time." Stree nodded. The two of them dropped silently off the edge and knifed into the water, and made their way into the hole. They slowly made their way through. They got up onto a dry area, and found themselves in a dazzlingly bright hall.

"Well, this has changed a bit," said Tidus. The two moved cautiously into the middle of the room, keeping a look out for anything suspicious. They got there, and found nothing.

"Something's not right here," said Stree quietly.

"Well, you get points for stating the obvious," replied Tidus. The two of them moved over to one of several doors at the other end of the room, and Tidus opened it up quietly. Stree peered through, then moved forward when he saw no one. They made their way to the end of that room, and Tidus opened up the door again. Stree peered through, then motioned for Tidus to wait where he was, Unsheathing his knife, he slipped through the door. Tidus heard a muffled thump, then came through the door himself. Stree stood waiting as Pyreflies swirled into nothingness.

"What was it?" asked Tidus.

"Fang. My guess is it's a sentry." Tidus nodded.

"You have any clue where Lulu and Wakka might be?"

"Nope. I hope it's nearby though." The two continued on, quietly taking out Fangs and the occasional bite bug. They opened a door, and went in, and Tidus hissed, "Wakka!" Stree looked, and saw the Bliztball player chained up to a wall, his head bowed in what appeared to be unconsciousness. Tidus moved forward quietly, and unchained his friend.

"Uhh, Lu?" he groaned.

"No, it's me, Tidus," he replied.

"Where's Lu?" asked Wakka, becoming more alert.

"We're going to find her now, calm down," said Tidus quietly.

"Lu!" said Wakka loudly.

"Shut him up!" hissed Stree, keeping an eye out for anything.

"Wakka, shut up!" said Tidus, trying to put his hand over the big man's mouth.

"Lulu!" Wakka shouted again. But all three of them shut up when they heard a low growl.

"What's that?" asked Wakka, quietly now.

"Some, three headed dog, thing," replied Tidus uncertainly.

"Cerberus," said Stree.

"You know what this thing is?" asked Tidus.

"This one and I have come across one another on multiple occasions," said the middle head of Cerberus, in a surprisingly soothing voice.

"Oh, yeah, I almost ripped him apart, but the little twerp ran away!" growled the head on the left in a cocky, croaking voice.

"You almost killed me?" asked Stree. "That's a laugh. Cerebur, I cut your face and you ran like a Fang pup in the face of a Behemoth."The left head, Cerebur, growled angrily.

"Calm down, Cerebur. You got angry last time and that was how he bested us."

"You're gonna blame this on me, Cerebal? You missed him more times than I did!"

"That's because you never got a chance to hit him!" Cerebal said, getting angry himself now.

"Quiet, both of you!" commanded the right head. "Remember, this is how he defeated us last time. He drove us to distraction in exactly the same way."

"Well, at least you figured it out, Cerebus," said Stree.

"It was indeed a good plan, Marked One. But it will not succeed this time."

"Look, I don't want to kill any of you, but I will if I have to."

"We do not want to end your life either, Marked One," replied Cerebus. "But if you best us, alone, then we shall give you aid, and help you find your missing companion."

"Lu!" exclaimed Wakka.

"Yeah, her," growled Cerebur. "So, waddya say. Wanna take us on?"

Stree brought his hand up, and sparks started flying around it. Then flames burst into existence, making the three-headed dog jump backwards a bit. Though no one could see it under the face guard, Stree smiled. "Let's do it."


	24. The Second Test

Tidus and Wakka stood over in the corner as Stree faced off against the three-headed beast. The only one making any noise was Cerebur, growling softly. Suddenly, the three heads barked at once, and leapt forward.

Stree reacted at once, guessing where the three heads would attack, and trying to dodge them. He was successful with the first two, but Cerebus caught him, slamming him backward into a wall. He retaliated, swiping his sword at Cerebur, but missed cleanly. Cerebal snapped at him, but Stree saw it coming, and slapped the dog in the side of his face, causing a yelp. Cerberus jumped back, then came forward again, all heads snapping in the same direction. Stree tried to jump up out of the qway, but Cerberus reared up on their hind legs and Cerebus and Cerebur caught him, one leg each, and slammed him to the ground. He tried to get away, but Cerebal brought his head in close, and light started to form in his mouth.

"Oh shit," said Stree, doubling his efforts to get away. When he realized he couldn't he curled himself up into a ball, as the dog head's attack, Howl, blasted straight at him. A high pitched scream punched through his head, making him yell in pain. Immobilized from pain, the other two heads released their grip and joined in with howls of their own. After a few minutes of it, Stree lay unmoving on the ground. Cerberus stopped, and turned away. Only Cerebus looked back.

"You put up more of a fight last time, Marked One," he said, turning his head away. They had gotten to the door when they heard a crackling sound behind them. They turned their head and found Stree standing their, flames dancing all over his body, across his sword and knife, and leaping into the air.

"I'm not finished yet," growled Stree, his voice a few octaves lower than normal. He screamed and threw his arms out, causing flames to explode in every direction, and leapt forward, his sword raised. He threw his knife while in mid-air, aiming straight at Cerbur, then punched his sword through Cerebal's throat. He came to land in front of Cerebus, his sword pointed at the dog's eye. "Are you?" not taking his eyes off the head, he reached over and pulled the knife out of Cerebur's head.

Cerebus laughed. "You win, Marked One. You have gotten a lot stronger this past year."

"You don't know the half of it," replied Stree, letting the flames surrounding him die down to nothingness.

"If you'll excuse me, I must heal my brothers. Then we shall get down to finding your missing companion."

"Get to it, then." Stree turned and placed his weapons back in their places, then walked over to where Wakka and Tidus stood silently. "We'll be going to find the mage in a couple of minutes. Then we can get out of here."

"So that, dog…thing is coming with us?" asked Tidus.

Stree nodded. "He wont betray us."

"How do you know, eh?" shot Wakka. "That thing would probably rip our heads off for fun."

"They won't. Cerberus is a loyal being. If you treat it with kindness and respect, it will protect you for as long as it can."

"I don't trust it," stated Wakka.

"Shall we go?" asked Cerebus.

"Lead the way."

The three men and Cerberus walked through endless corridors, taking out random fiends as they came.

"Hey, doggy, how much longer is this gonna take?" asked Wakka.

"Not much longer. And please refrain from referring to us as 'doggy'," replied Cerebal, shaking his head.

Suddenly, the group heard a thump, then a yell.

"Oh, shit," said Stree, rushing forward. He got to a window, and looked in, only to see three men standing around Lulu, trying to grab her, clearly intent on having their collective way with her, despite the fact that she did not want it.

Remembering the way Tidus had used Kam in their earlier times, Stree felt rage bubbling up inside him. "You must calm down, Marked One," said Cerebus.

"Not this time," said Stree quietly. He stepped back, and slammed his booted foot straight through the heavy double doors, splintering the wood into tiny fragments.

"I don't think she wants what you do, boys," growled Stree, his voice lowering to a dangerous level, and flames rising out of his body.

The three men laughed and started to move toward Stree, but stopped when they saw Tidus, Wakka, and Cerberus come walking through the remains of the doorway. The severe look Wakka was giving them would have been more than enough to make anyone cower in fear, but the three barely seemed to notice it. Stree handed Wakka his knife and gun, then moved over to the side. The other three spread out, and waited for the three to make the first move.

The one in the middle whistled, and three separate sets of doors opened up, and dozens of other men piled into the room.

"Ah, screw this," said Wakka, and jumped forward, stabbing the knife straight through the first one unlucky enough to be in his way. He threw the man backwards, and kept moving forward, towards Lulu. Stree and Tidus followed suit, slashing and hacking their way through the crowd, while Cerberus stayed back a bit, and Cerbur and Cerebus protected Cerebal, as he worked on magic spells to make the fight a little easier. Cerebus and Cerebur barked loudly as they ripped apart any poor soul who came too close, while Stree jumped high up into the air, and slmmed his sword down onto the ground, knocking everyone – including Tidus and Wakka – away. He stood back up and spun around, splitting several people in half, while Tidus grabbed hs sword and jammed it straight through the throat of another. Wakka moved around the side of the room, shooting anyone who got close to Lulu. He reached her and turned around, spraying bullets all over the place. He then saw the three men who were there originally trying to flee. Growling, Wakka threw the gun as hard as he could at the first one, knocking him out cold. He then grabbed a piece of wood lying on the floor, and ran straight at the other two.

Meanwhile, Cerberus had found themselves in a spot of bother. Five men at once were hitting at them, and they were steadily getting pushed back. "Counter Rockets, my brothers!" shouted Cerebus, and the three of them, sent pulses of light spraying out in all directions, annihilating everyone in close range to them. Then Cerberus put their tail up, and a beam of light shot up into the air, and blasted straight into Lulu. She then stood up, and, as if in fury mode, started casting random attack magic spells at anyone she saw. With the three men, Lulu, and Cerberus ripping people apart, the battle was over in little over a few minutes. By the time it was over, only one person was left alive, and Wakka was throttling him to find out why he and Lulu had been kidnapped.

"Who did this?" he yelled, choking the man.

"Us," replied the man, smirking despite the fact that his face was turning blue.

"Who made you!" shouted Wakka. The man stayed completely silent.

"Wakka," said Stree, calm and flameless now. "Move. I can make him talk."

He walked over to the man, and knelt down next to where he lay on the ground, breathing heavily. "You think you're gonna have any more luck than he did?"

"Luck is nothing," replied Stree. He slowly slid the knife he had gotten back out of its sheath, and held it close to the man's face. Then he moved the blade down to his groin. "The real question is, do you want to ever have children?"

The man gulped visibly, but stayed quiet.

"Guess that's a no," said Stree, pressing the blade down – hard.

The man whimpered, then screamed in pain.

"Tell me what we want to know, or I cut the other one off as well."

The man, crying softly, still said nothing.

"Fine." Stree slashed again, causing the man to scream even louder.

"I think I'm going to throw up," said Lulu, turning from the room.

The man calmed down a little. "Now you got nothing."

"Wanna bet?" asked Stree. He moved his arm, and brought to rest on the tip of one of the man's fingers. "You have ten of these. And ten toes to. We can do this for a long time."

"I'll die of blood loss first," laughed the man. Strre nodded once, then brought his hand up, flames erupting from it, and punched him straight into the groin. The man screamed like a ten year old girl.

"Cauterize the wound. Now you won't."

"Argh! Oh god, I'll tell you! Just stop please!"

"Alright. So tell us."

"It was some big guy. He had this big sword on his arm, instead of a hand. Didn't tell us his name. Said we were the second test. I don't know, but we were getting paid heaps for it, so we didn't ask question, ya know? Come on, that's all I know, please."

Stree nodded again, than ran the blade over the man throats silencing him quickly. "All right. Let's get out of here."


	25. A Welcome Back

Yuna sxcreamed and hugged Lulu fiercely, while Wakka held Vidina close to his chest, and everyone else crowded around them. Stree stood off to the side, not sure what to do. He looked around and found that Kam was not there. He waited a few more seconds, then turned back around when he heard the thump of the doors to the building flying open. Out came Kam, her hair tied up into a braid running down her back, wearing tight fitting dark shirt and pants, a far cry from her loose, flowing hair, and white, baggy clothes.

"Stree!" she shouted, running at him and hugging him tightly. When she finally let go, she stepped back a bit and Stree remarked on her new look.

"Nice hair cut."

"I got it a little more tame. Makes it easier to fight," she said, obviously pleased with her training.

"Just finish training, huh?"

"Yeah. Baralai says that I'm doing well. Better be careful Stree, or I'll start kicking you around."

Stree smiled. "Where is Baralai?"

"He still had stuff to do inside. Said he'll meet us all later."

Stree nodded. "You going to go greet the rest of them?

Kam smiled, and ran over to the others.

Smiling slightly, Stree turned to walk inside. He was only a little way in, however, when he ran straight into Paine. "Uhh, hi," he said.

"Welcome back," said Paine, an uncertain look on her face.

The two stood there for a minute, in an uncomfortable silence.

"Ah, screw it," said Paine unexpectedly, and grabbed Stree. She pulled the taller man down to her height, ripped off the face guard, and kissed him. She reached her arms up around his neck, and, to the surprise of them both, Stree found himself wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. Everything else melted away, leaving nothing but the two of them, wrapped in the sense of each other, neither caring about anything else. Finally, they ended their embrace, and Paine looked Stree in the eyes. His eyes glowed, and heat washed off his body, but his sense did not have the same menacing air, it had when he let the flames loose, though the intensity was easily apparent. "Something wrong?" she asked, a little unsure.

Stree shook his head slowly. "Nothing at all," he breathed softly.

Suddenly, a low cough sounded from off down the corridor, and both Stree and Paine jumped. They turned, and found Yuna standing a few feet away, a big grin on her face.

"I just though you'd like to know that we're going to have a meeting in a few minutes. We need to find out what's going to happen from here." She turned and started on her way back to the main hall of the building. "I'll give you a few minutes."

Once she exited through one of the heavy doors, Stree and Paine turned back to each other, and laughed, then held each other in a way that astonished Stree in how natural it felt.

The rest of the group was waiting for them when Stree and Paine finally entered the room. Stree scanned their faces, and could tell by the looks he was receiving that everyone had a pretty good idea of what had happened. Stree had replaced his face guard, but only had the left half on, covering the scarred side of his face. Thus, everyone in the room could see the grin on his face. He sat down quietly on the couch, Paine sitting next to Yuna. Tidus reached over and nudged Stree. He ignored Tidus as best he could and looked around the r est of the rom, staring for a second and Kam and Baralai, who were sitting close to one another and apparently discussing various fighting techniques, and Cerbrus, who were sitting off to the side of the room. After a few seconds, Rin spoke up.

"Tidus has already explained to us the events of Baaj Temple, and we have been introduced to Cerberus. Cerberus and I had a talk, and we think that the most logical place to be able to find someone that has the ability to control fiends is in Zanarkand Temple. So that obviously, is where we must head."

"Okay, so why aren't we going?"

"Because of your little stunt in the woods," replied Auron.

Stree vaguely remembered setting things on fire while in the woods, but nothing beyond that. "What happened to the woods?"

"There's nothing left but fire. It's just one massive bonfire," said Yuna.

"We'd have no chance of getting through it," filled in Tidus.

"Okay, so we use the _Shadow Chaser_."

"Yeah. About that," said Rikku. "A fiend got into the grounds and ripped a cable that feeds power to one of the engines, with out, the ship'll blow. But unfortunately, we cant fix it because we need about a month for the parts to get here.

"So how do we get to Zanarkand if we can't go that way, and we don't have an airship?"

"I can field that one," said Baralai. "I had some of my people look into it, and they've found an underground passageway that lead from the Thunder Plains to the side of the Calm Lands."

"Oh, no, not through there again," whined Rikku. Gippal laughed and squezzed her shoulder in consolation.

Stree smiled, then turned back to Baralai. "Do you know any way we can get through without having to face hordes of Fiends again?"

Baralai smiled. "I do indeed. I have in my possession a vehicle capable of carrying twenty people, and armored to the point that not even Sin itself would be able to break through." He finished, and his grin grew at the impressed looks he was getting from the others in the room.

"Can I see it?" blurted Gippal.

"Only if you don't tamper with it," replied Baralai.

"Oh, he wont," said Rikku quickly.

"Or you," he said. Rikku sat back and started to pout. Everyone laughed.

Stree was grabbing his things from a cupboard in his cabin on the now useless _Shadow Chaser_, trying to figure out what he would do when he and the rest of them got to Zanarkand, except Paine kept creeping into his thoughts. He eventually gave up on his packing, and lay down on the bed, and let her fill his mind completely. His mind kept playing like a movie shere, flashing back to the kiss they had shared earlier in the day.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" he called, getting up to go back to his packing. Kam walked in, a smile on her face, her dark brown hair still tied back, though now she was wearing a jacket as well as her other clothes.

"So, had an encounter today did we?"

Stree ignored her and kept packing his things.

"Oh come on, there's no need to be like that. Come on, it had to happen sometime. Everyone but you could see it."

Stree turned around and stared at her silently for a second, a small smile playing on his face.

Kam's smile grew larger. "I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"You like her as much as she likes you!"

"I—," he never got to finish his sentence, as the wall behind him exploded inwards.


	26. Persistent Bastards

Stree flew forwards, running straight into Kam as he traveled. He pushed her sideways onto the bed and landed hard against the wall. He spun around, searching for a weapon, but all of his things were inside the building, along with his other belongings. He scowled in frustration, but looked through all of the smoke to find out what had made the explosion. Suddenly, two fangs came bounding through the hole in the side of his airship, one going for him, the other for Kam. Acting as fast as he could, Stree ran towards the beast, jumping over it's back and grabbing it on the jaw at the same time, using his momentum so snap it's neck. He then landed, and threw the Fang corpse at the other one, knocking them both up against a bulkhead. He ran forward to finish the second one off, but to his surprise, they both stood up!

"What in Spira? Persistent bastards, aren't they?" he said as the first Fang shook itself until the force popped its neck back into place. Pushing the strange sight into the back of his head, he ran forward, kicking at one, dodging a bite from the second one. He followed up by spinning around, and smacking it in the jaw with the back of his hand, but the thing just shook it off, and jumped on him.

He went down hard, and struggled to get back up. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something metal swing around, and the two fangs went flying. He jumped up and saw Kam twirling a staff reminiscent of Baralai's in front of her, bringing to a stop with her arm out to the side. She then ran forward and slammed one end into the first one, pivoted, and caught the second one, knocking them both up into the air. Stree acted as well, grabbing a jagged piece of metal from the floor, and rushing into the fray. The jumped forward, and used the metal like a knife, slashing it straight through the throat of one, then drove it through the jaw of the second, using enough force to lift the beast up and jam the end of the metal into the roof. The pinned Fiend thrashed as much as it could but to no avail. The other one though, jumped back up, blood gushing out of its neck, and ran straight at Kam. Stree made a jump for it, and grabbed onto the thing's legs, but the Fiend still moved forward. Stree looked over at Kam for a second, and was surprised to find a spike flick out of the end of her staff. She spun with skill enough to believe she had been doing this for years, and drove it straight through the Fang's head, into the floor, pinning it too.

"Stay," she said, breathing heavily. Stree smiled, and punched the hanging Fang once more for good measure, then the two turned and walked over to the hole in the wall.

"Learnt some new stuff huh?"

Kam blushed with embarrassment. "Like the staff? I had a few extras built into it."

"Not bad." He turned to stare out at the grounds, and found nothing out of the ordinary. "I would like to know why our ship is now worthless junk. I don't think those fangs could've busted it up like that."

"Looks like a bomb," she said. "Who would be able to get close enough to plant a bomb on our ship?"

Stree didn't answer, as he heard clanging noises off in the distance, then gunshots.

"I don't think the rest of them are having fun at the moment," he remarked. Suddenly, the two Fangs erupted into pyreflies behind them. Stree grabbed the jagged metal, and threw his armor on, while Kam grabbed her staff. "Let's go."

Stree and Kam raced around a corner, and ducked just in time to see a Funguar go flying above their heads. They looked over and found an incredible number of Fiends pushing in on one point.

"Man, they're not dying!" came Tidus' voice from the middle of the fray. Suddenly, a hail of bullets erupted out of one side of circle, while an explosion threw several fiends away. The two Kry'tals took their opportunity, and ran through the hole into the middle, joining the rest of the group.

"Nice of you to join us!" shouted Gippal over to roar of the beasts. He lifted his shoulder cannon up and fired three shots into the air, knocking back a few of them.

"They're still not dying," shouted Tidus, running forward to hack at a couple, but getting pushed back.

"We had the same problem!" shouted Kam back, knocking two Bite Bugs away as she was talking.

"Hey, where's Baralai?" asked Stree.

"I think he got caught up in his office. These bastards swarmed the entire place!" shouted Auron.

Suddenly, a yell burst from nowhere, making the ground shake, and Baralai came bursting out of a second story window above them, landing nimbly on the ground, his staff in one hand, Stree's sword in the other. "Thought you might like this," he said, throwing the Hasamune to Stree. Stree caught it, and spun around to face more fiends. "Stree if you don't mind, a fire wall above us would do some good," he shouted, noticing that Fiends were pouring out of the window Baralai had just gone through. Stree focused as hard as he could, but his body just didn't want to make the flames come. Suddenly, a Sahagin dropped right in front of him, slashing at his stomach with its wickedly sharp fins. He moved back, and sliced at it, but to no avail. Thinking fast, he used the side of his sword to slap it back into the pack. He looked over and saw Yuna, Tidus, and Rikku, pinned down off in their own little group. He ran over to help them, but was knocked flat by a Behemoth tail. He looked backwards and tried to find a way to get them out.

Frustration filled his body, but the anger that was the key to his strength was nonexistent. In desperation, he called a Firaga, but it wasn't enough. It barely knocked the Behemoth back. He looked back to see how the other's were faring, hoping that one of them had deciphered a way to get out of this mess, but all he saw was blood and fiends flying. Suddenly, he saw Paine lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. Horror filled his body as he rushed over to her, but he could make it. A Tonberry stabbed him in the shoulder with a remarkably fast lunge, but he ignored it and kept running. A Ruby Dragon dropped out of nowhere.

"Ah, shit!" shouted Stree, pulling his arm up over his face as the Dragon's flames erupted all over his body. Through the heat of the flames, he could see Paine lying there, with a Fang standing over her, drooling hungrily. A desperate need to help filled his soul, and strength such as he had never known before flowed through him. Moving faster than he ever had in his life, he swung the Hasamune out, taking the Dragon's head off, and tried moving towards Paine. But he couldn't do it, as more fiends filled the place where the Dragon had disappeared. Screaming in desperation, he dropped the sword and started throwing punches left and right, knocking one fiend after another away. He felt rage mix with his need to help Paine, and his punching and kicking frenzy grew even bigger.

Then suddenly everything went white.


	27. The Edge of Darkness

_You were close._

What?

_You almost had it._

Had what?

_I guess you're not ready yet._

Ready for what?

_I can't tell you yet_

Why not?

_You know soon enough._

Tell me now.

_Wake up._

What?

"Stree! Wake up!"

A hard slap caught his cheek, and Stree sat up from the ground. "Ow. What was that for?" he asked.

"You were unconscious, you stupid son of a shoopuf!" said Wakka, getting up from his knees next to Stree, then helping him up.

"Ugh, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" asked Gippal

"I mean, why was I unconscious?"

"Probably because of that massive explosion," replied Wakka. Stree looked around, and found the others over near his airship, poking around the hole in the wall.

"What explosion?"

"Don't know. I was on the ground, and all I could hear was the Fiends growling, and someone screaming, then this flash of white light went up, and the Fiends incinerated. I never seen anything like it."

Stree vaguely remembered screaming, but he couldn't remember why, so he said nothing. "What happened after that?"

"We all got up. Except you, of course. I think that flame bath from the Ruby Dragon must have taken it out of you." Gippal gave Stree a funny look. "Though I could've sworn you were still fighting after that."

Though he remembered with perfect clarity the dragon launching flames all over him, he could remember nothing after that. "I guess I wasn't. I don't think I was."

Gippal stared for a second longer, then shrugged and turned back to the ship. "Yuna checked you out and said you were fine, so we focused our attention on finding out what made the hole in your ship while we waited for you to wake up."

"Found anything yet?" he asked, pointing to the _Shadow Chaser_.

"No, not yet. It wasn't done by a fiend, though."

Suddenly, Stree felt a prickle of danger. "Anything wrong around here?" he asked.

"No, there hasn't been a peep cheep or roar fromk any Fiend since the explosion."

Not entirely convinced, Stree reached for the Hasamune. "Where's my sword?" he asked, his pulse racing when he found it not there. Sweat started pouring down his forehead as his mind started panicking.

"Kam's got it," replied Gippal. "Calm down, man, that explosion wiped out every Fiend within three kilometers. Believe me, we checked."

Suddenly, Stree flashed his arm out, and grabbed the knife on Gippal's belt. "Whoa, man, give me some warning next time!"

Stree ignored him, his senses alert for the slightest suspicious movement. He heard something behind him, and spun around, but there was nothing there. He heard laughter to his left, and turned, but it was only someone talking with another person.

"Stree, you're not in danger. Calm down," said Gippal. Suddenly, Stree heard a deep menacing laughter.

"_He's wrong._"

"Who's there?" asked Stree.

"What?" asked Wakka, stepping back.

"_You are in more danger than you can possibly imagine_."

"Show yourself!" commanded Stree.

"Dude, calm down."

"_So is your sister._"

"Leave her alone!" shouted Stree. "You won't touch her!" By now, all of the others had noticed and were making there way over.

"Stree, calm down!" shouted Gippal.

"What going on?" asked Kam.

"_You will never be safe_."

"What in Yevon's name is he doing?" asked someone; Stree couldn't make out the voices anymore. Stree was slashing the air with the knife, coming dangerously close to the two men near him.

"_Don't worry_,_ Stree_, _soon it will be all over_."

"Somebody stop him! He's lost it again!"

"Get him!"

"Stree!"

"Grab him!"

"Got him, now what?"

"Knock him out!"

"No, that's my brother!"

"What?"

"Look at him!"

Now Stree had slumped over onto the ground, and was sleeping fitfully.

Auron watched pityingly as Stree stood on the threshold of insanity, hoping against hope the darkness would take him quickly, rather than leave him to linger in its all too familiar pattern

_Don't worry Stree_, he thought. _Soon it will be all over_.


	28. The Truth Revealed

Stree woke up and found himself in a room he had never seen before. He sat up and got out of the bed. He looked around, and saw that the four walls of the room were flashing black and white.

"Strange," he said, turning around. The whole room seemed to contain nothing except the bed. He heard a thump, and turned around to find a cupboard behind him. He stared at the cupboard for a second, then, realizing that he was completely naked, ran over to it and opened it. He looked in and found all his favourite clothes in there, all in his size. He took out a black shirt and pair of jeans and threw them on, then turned around, hearing another thump. Sitting next to the bed, was a full size mirror. He stared at it for a second, then realized something, and moved right up to the mirror to look.

His scars were gone.

He reached up, not believing it to be true. Suddenly, there was a black flash, and his face suddenly contained innumerable amounts of scars. He gasped and stepped backwards.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked, his voice echoing strangely.

"You're in your mind," replied a soft voice from behind him.

Stree spun around, his hand flying, but stopped when he found out who was talking to him.

"You," he said, his hand dropping limply to his side. "But, you're dead."

"Do you know how hard it is to kill a Fayth, Stree?" asked Yojimbo from behind his mask., laughing slightly.

"I don't understand," said Stree. "If you are a Fayth, shouldn't you me gone with the rest of them?"

"I should be, but unfortunately I'm not."

The pulsing walls around Stree were starting to give him a headache, and Yojimbo's crypticd speeches. "Can you stop these walls from flashing? They're driving me insane."

Yojimbo walked over to one of the walls and examined it. "By the looks of things, you pretty close."

"Huh?"

"To insane.. the walls reflect yor state of mind. The way this is set out, not black, not white, means you're still somewhere in the middle. You not pure of heart, evil or good. And the flashing means that you've almost reached your breaking point. You should probably take it easy for a while."

Oh yeah. Big chance of that happening while every Fiend in Spira is after me."

"Ah. That. I think it's time some things were explained to you."

Stree stood up straighter. "About why they're after me?"

Yojimbo nodded. "You may want to take a seat." He gestured with his hand and a soft armchaird dropped to the ground with a thud. Stree sat down, and looked up at Yojimbo.

"So tell me why."

"You know how people from the dream Zanarkand were created by the Fayth, right?"

Stree nodded. "When I found out, I was a little confused as to why I didn't disappear."

Yojimbo nodded. "The reason you didn't disappear was because your Fayth never woke up. He enjoyed the feel of controlling people so much, he didn't want to relinquish it. He was cocky. Arrogant. And powerful."

"So he was the last Fayth." Said Stree.

"For a time. Eventually, the rest of the Fayth came back and tried to stop him. But he was too strong. All they managed to do was split him in two."

"Double the fun," said Stree.

"Exactly. Except the Fayth did their jobs right. The second version was the good half of him. All that was left was the bad. And they had the good half fighting alongside them, against his…brother."

"So what do you have to do with this?"

"Meet the brother," said Yojimbo.

Stree stared at him. "So, the one who's controlling me…"

"…is my other half. I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. All I could do was give you extra strength."

"So why tell me this? If it's to help me not sleep at night, you've done a good job."

"That's not it," said Yojimbo, anger creeping into his voice. "You're the only one that has the power to defeat him."

"You're kidding."

Yojimbo shook his head. "Nope. The Fayth's have decided that it was up to me to train you, so I gave you my weapon, which gave you the extra power. Haven't you noticed the flame control?"

Stree brushed his hand across his face. "Yeah. Noticed that."

"Well, you're going to need it. Because unfortunately, my other half is stronger than I am."

"So what makes you think I'll be able to kill a Fayth?"

"You don't honestly think you have all that power in you for nothing, do you? You're the only one that has the power."

"Hang on a second. If I kill him, then you…"

"Yes. I die too. But it's necessary."

"But then, if you die, I die."

"That's also true. But like I said, it's necessary."

Stree threw his hands up to his head, in frustration and shock. "How? Cant you lock him up or something?"

Yojimbo laughed. "How human. You don't want to die. I know. Neither do I. but we have to help. You know how much of a danger he is. He has almost total control of the Fiends of Spira. Not one person is safe anymore. You can't honestly want preserve yourself and forsake all those people, can you?"

"Why not? Look what happened last time I helped someone!"

"You're referring to the Kry'tal girl." Stree glared at him.

"My sister."

Yojimbo smiled. "Your sister, then. Yes, you have suffered because you risked your life to help her, but is a life risked to help someone more fulfilling than a safe life for yourself?"

Stree opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Stree, let me show you what will happen if your desire for preservation to prevent you helping."

"I –," Stree started, stepping backwards, but Yojimbo was too fast. He shot forward and stabbed his hand into Stree's temple. Visions assaulted Stree, ones of Burnig building children screaming, and a dark shape in the backgrounds. Suddenly, the pictures settled onto one. Stree found himself in the middle of a burning field. He looked around, and saw charred bodies all around him. He recognized one of them, and knelt down to see Rin, the shop owner, lying on the ground, and a sword slash that had him almost in tweo pieces. He heard a bang, and turned around to see several people running in the opposite direction. He followed them, and realized as he closed the distance that the leader was Tidus! They stopped suddenly, in front of a dark shadow that loomed up in front of them. He rann around them and saw that the shadow had taken form. It looked like Yojimbo, only larger, and made up of varying shades of black and gray. He looked at the group, and saw that they weren't even noticing Yojimbo. He turned his head and saw, standing in front of Yojimbo…

Himself.

Himself, but a darker version, wearing pure black armor, his hair now jet black, and a sword with a black fire-shaped blade.

"Stree, move," came Tidus' voice. His voice sounded as though it was comuing from a reat distance, and it echoed strangely.

The dark Stree laughed, but the laugh was not the laugh Stree remembered. It was colder than his coldest, and a lower pitch than he thought he was capable of. Slowly, the dark Stree reached from the ground, and put a black battle helmet on. He then lifted his left hand, and motioned for Tidus to attack him. Tidus moved back a bit.

"Stay here. All of you," he said to the rest of the group. Stree now noticed who was among this group. Kam was prominent among them, with Yuna and Wakka standing close by. Lulu was missing, as was Kimarhi. Rikku stood silently, and Paine was missing. Auron was gone as well. He looked on the ground and saw that the huge-yet-small-by-Ronso-standards body of Kimarhi was lying on the ground, near the dark Stree. Stree watched as Tidus stepped forward to face Stree's other side. The two attacked at the same time, but with one swipe, Stree cut the blade of Tidus' Caladbolg in two. He laughed again, then spun around and stabbed Tidus straight through the chest. Tidus dropped silently. Yuna screamed, and rushed Stree, but he sliced through her almost casually. The rest of them attacked, but they died quickly. Pretty soon, the only one left standing was Kam. Stree took off the helmet, and smiled at her, but it contained none of the protective feeling that Stree knew should have been there. Kam shook her head, tears streaming down her face. Stree shook his head too, then raised his hand. Flames formed around it, but none like the flames Stree himself knew of, these flames were black. Stree watched in horror as the flames grew in intensity, suddenly he shot his arm out and threw the flames forward, making them shoot straight through her chest. Stree cried out as she slumped to the ground, while the black version of himself laughed. Fury raging through him, Stree looked down and saw in his hand, a sword that was like the one his other self had, only pure white, with a silver and gold handle. He hesitated for only the slightest second, then ran forward, intending to cut down that twisted version of himself. The other Stree saw him coming, however, and brought is sword up in defense. Stree swung with all his strength, intending to push the other's blade back, but his sword shattered when it came into contact with the dark version! The evil one twisted his scarred face into a smile.

"Too weak," he said in a deep, yet strangely echoing voice. He raised his sword to strike, and Stree closed his eyes.

He opened them again to find himself in the strangely pulsating room, though it was less black now, and white seemed to fill a lot more of the space. He stood up and turned to find Yojimbo standing there, inspecting the wall. He turned around with a smile on his face. "I know what your answer will be, but I'd still like to hear it." Stree nodded.

"I'll do it."


	29. Lessons

The lightning flashed violently as Kam and Tidus stood near the windows inside the travel agency on the thunder plains. They watched as Stree stood still out in the pouring rain, waiting for another fiend to show up.

"Has he taken a break yet?" asked Wakka, walking up behind the two.

"Are you kidding?" replied Tidus. "He hasn't slept in three days!"

Just after he had woken up, Stree had demanded that the group start off for the thunder plains, and from there, to Zanarkand. Since then, he had made them all walk back to Guadosalam, while he took a day to go off on his own then, and again now, at the travel agency.

"He's doing it again," said Kam quietly.

Tidus nodded. "I know."

"Uhh, excuse me. Doin' what, exactly?" asked Wakka.

"He's trying to hit a Breakthrough," replied Kam, not taking her eyes off her brother.

"What's a Breakthrough?"

"A big wave of power that he'd use to fight a fiend."

"What, you mean like an overdrive?" asked Wakka.

"More like an over-overdrive," replied Tidus. Outside, there was a flash of lightning, then a red burst of flame, and another Fiend's corpse lay on the ground near Stree. Tidus turned away to face Wakka, who was staring out the window himself. "Stree always thought that there was a way of harnessing the overdrive skill, and using it for as long as he wanted. Originally, it was to be the best Blitzer. Now it's to be the best fighter."

"Unfortunately, the last time he tried this, he ended up in hospital for a very long time," said Kam.

Stree stood silently, his arms crossed over his chest, his sword on his back, daring the fiends to attack him. A dual horn obliged, and fell quickly. As it ran towards Stree, he allowed the flames to come forth and shot a burning pillar of fire at the beast. Suddenly, something from behind thumped him in the back. Not moving an inch, Stree cast the flames in the great circle around himself, then expanded it, frying three bite bugs who tried sneaking up to him. He was just about to give up, when something tapped him on the shoulder. He was about to turn around, but something grabbed his armour and threw him into the wall of the travel agency. He landed with a resounding thud, and looked up, only to find Auron standing there.

"Your training starts now."

"What the hell is he doing?" asked Kam as she watched Auron throw Stree. Tidus laughed.

"It's Auron. Nobody knows," he replied.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time," said Auron with a smile as Stree silently took the Hasamune from his back. The two stared each other down for a second, and the rain built up to a howl. Then Stree jumped forward, bringing his sword down in a slash. Auron dodged it easily, his own weapon still sheathed, and stepped down on the sword. Stree pushed the old samurai back, and hefted his weapon again. He ran forward, then dropped to his knees, swinging the sword in a full circle in an effort to hit Auron's legs. Auron jumped and stayed out of harm's way. Stree felt the rage building up inside him, and started using it to focus his attacks. His moves were starting to get closer, and Auron realized what Stree was doing.

"Stop that," he commanded. "Anger will not help you against him. He is far too strong."

His words registered vaguely to Stree, but he was far too frustrated to think on them. He attacked again, but Auron spun around and and muttered something. Stree tried to move, and found himself rooted to the spot.

"Threaten," said Tidus.

"I remember that," said Kam. "This won't be pretty."

Stree stood, getting more and more frustrated, as Auron slowly walked up to him, a cold smile on his face. He was less than a meter from Stree, when he stopped and unsheathed his Masamune. "I told you anger wouldn't help. Anger leads to fear. Fear lets you get frightened. That's how Threaten works." He waved his hand and Stree could move once again. "You don't need anger. Anger will only hinder you."

"Voice of experience, Old man?"

Auron laughed softly. "How do you think Yunalesca beat me?" He walked a few meters back. "Again. But this time, be calm, rid yourself of anger. Use other emotions."

"What emotion is more powerful than rage?" asked Stree skeptically.

"Love. Compassion for others can make one do amazing things."

"Use love to hurt others, huh?" Stree asked skeptically.

"Use that compassion to defend others." Auron lifted his Masamune over his shoulder, then pointed over to Kam, looking through the window. "Think of it this way. If something was going to hurt your sister," he said, lingering on the final qword, "would you stand by and watch, or would you use the compassion you have for her drive you to defend her?"

"Point. So what do we do now?"

"You focus. Imagine the scenario I just described. Close your eyes and picture it."

"I don't think I trust you around with my eye closed."

"Trust me. Once you learn how to control your emotions, even closed eyes will not hinder you."

Stree closed his eyes and retreated into his mind. He focused on the vision he had seen when talking to Yojimbo. He saw his companions cut down one after the other by his other self, and found himself wishing he could do something to stop it. All too soon, Kam was the only one left. Suddenly, he saw Paine at her side, and realized something that should have been obvious to him from the start. That his place was with them.

Suddenly, he found himself directly in front of his other self, not carrying the Hasamune, nor the white sword he had seen in his vision, but another. It was glowing gold, shaped in a similar style to Auron Katana, but longer, with gems embedded inside the blade. Suddenly his other self attacked, and Kam and Paine disappeared, so it was just the two of them. The imposter attacked again and again in a dazzling display of attacks that should have caused any man to be cut down. But for Stree, the other's movements were too slow, too easy to read. Every strike that was thrown down Stree dodged, blocked and redirected, though never actually attacking on his own. This imposter was not worth inflicting pain on. This was just another fiend that needed to be sent. He got himself ready to deliver the finishing blow, and put the beast out of it's torment, when he heard Auron speak.

"Good."

Stree opened his eyes and realized that it had not been his other self in the fight, it was the unsent Samurai that was his opponent.

"Did I just do what I think I did?" asked Stree.

"You just returned every single attack that I delivered against you."

A loud thump echoed across the plains and Kam and Tidus came running out. "How the hell did you do that?" yelled Tidus over the thunder.

"Do what?" asked Stree in confusion.

"You blocked all of Auron's attacks without even trying!" exclaimed Kam.

"See what happens when you use compassion instead of rage."

"Look out!" yelled Stree suddenly, and he threw his knife up into the air at full force, catching a fiend who was about to dive bomb Auron. The fiend exploded, and knife fell, landing neatly in Stree's hand. "Thanks Auron. I'm sorry I doubted you."

Suddenly Yuna came racing up. "Stree! We need help. Fiends have overrun Luca. All the townspeople are trapped! They're all going to die!"

"So? What can I do about it?" he asked, a hollow feeling rising in his stomach at the thought of so many dead. It struck him as odd that before now he wouldn't have cared.

"Stree. We have to help them," said Tidus. "We're the only ones who can."


	30. Call To Arms

The travel agency on the Mii-hen Highroad was full of people trying to help the trapped residents of Luca. Several people were off to one side sharpening axes, one very large Ronso was practicing moves with his spear, and a large group of people were simply hammering nails through pieces of wood to make clubs in their hopes to help. The lady behind the counter was almost as scared by what was happening in Luca as she was by all these people with weaponry surrounding her. She looked out the window and saw one of the transports coming towards the travel agency. She went out to greet it and was met by Rin, who jumped off the side.

"Rin, thank the Al Bhed you're back, I …" she never got a chance to finish her statement as Rin shushed her and led his companions inside.

They went into his office and shut the door. "In case you have not noticed, a large number of people out there want to help liberate Luca. However, they will not be able to do it on their own. They need the help of the High Summoner and her companions," he said.

Everyone was silent for a second. "It's him, isn't it?" asked Tidus. "Yojimbo?"

"One of them," replied Stree. He took the Hasamune off his back, then turned and walked out the door.

"Hey. Where you going?"

Stree ignored Wakka and walked right out into the open plains.

He ignored all of the people on the highroad and walked off in the direction of Luca.

"Quick everyone. Come on!" shouted Tidus, running after Stree. Everyone looked for a second, then followed eagerly.

"I don't need help, you know," said Stree as Tidus followed him, Kam and everyone else trailing slightly further behind.

Tidus laughed. "Sure you don't. How many times have you collapsed now?"

Stree scowled, but continued walking. Kam walked up behind him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We don't have time for encouraging talks, or anything like that. The people in Luca are going to die if we don't do something quickly."

"Wow. When did you become such a hero?" she asked, shocked at his newfound compassion for others.

"Since I found out that I'm the only hope mankind has. Not much point being a savior if there's no one to save."

The group turned a corner onto the final straight of the highroad. They walked another couple of meters, then stopped dead, staring at the monstrous fiend waiting at the gates to Luca. Stree stopped as well, staring on in shock at how huge the Behemoth was. He had heard tales of giant Behemoths, had even fought one once, but they all paled in comparison to this monstrosity. Cerberus growled softly as they noticed him.

"Something wrong?" asked Stree when he noticed their reaction.

"This one has a long feud with my clan," replied Cerebus.

"You have a clan?" asked Kam. "How many three-headed dogs are there?"

Cerebal growled at her. "The fusing of three Behemoths is a rare thing, and it is an honor for us all."

Cerebur continued. "We would greatly appreciate it if you didn't make light of such a thing."

"Sorry," said Kam, "I didn't know."

"So why does he have such a problem?" asked Stree, pointing to the hulking Behemoth.

"He was passed over as one of those to fuse with us, and he took great offense," explained Cerebus. "He killed many of us that day, and none of us had or has the strength necessary to defeat him."

"Mm hm," said Stree, still staring at the monster. "Does he have a name?"

"Gargant. Stree Kry'tal, you do not have the strength necessary either, I believe," said Cerebus softly.

"Want to put money on that?" asked Stree with a small smile on his face.

"Stree, don't. You don't have to prove yourself."

"I'll put money on it," said Tidus with a grin. "I'll put two thousand gil that you do beat him, but not in five minutes."

"Five minutes to beat something that's never been beaten before? You're on," replied Stree, his smile growing.

He started walking, ignoring the gasps emanating from the rest of the crowd. He walked right up to the huge Behemoth, who stood there laughing.

"One human. This is who they send against me?" he asked through his laughs. "I was promised more blood than you, human. Bring me more."

"Gargant, I'm all you can handle." He turned around. "Time starts now!" he shouted at Tidus, then ducked as Gargant took a huge swipe at him. Stree ducked, drew the Hasamune, and cut it straight through Gargant's left leg. Gargant howled, and dropped to one knee. Stree jumped, and sliced through Gargant's right shoulder. The beast howled, and bent over further, his let arm scraping the ground in pain. Stree landed, then jumped again, right onto Gargant's back. He drew his knife, and stabbed it straight into the back of Gargant's head, causing bolts of electricity to shoot out of the beast's mouth as he screamed in pain. Stree pulled the knife out, grabbed the wound, and stared pulling, ripping the hole in Gargant's head even further apart. Gargant was in so much agony, he didn't even notice as Stree created a huge fireball and slammed it straight into the gaping hole. Gargant's eyes glowed for a second, then a pillar of flames shot out, burning straight through the ground as the gigantic Behemoth dropped to the ground, exploding into Pyreflies.

"Time?" he shouted, in the direction of the shocked group.

"Thirty two seconds!" replied Tidus as he ran up to Stree. "On another note, I'm glad I no longer have to fight you."

"Only for now. We still have to work out our issues," replied Stree as Kam and Cerberus ran up.

"I am glad I was mistaken of your strength, Stree Kry'tal," said Cerebus, bowing his head.

"Nice one," said Paine, running up to him. "Have to say, I was a little worried for the first part."

"Only the first part? I think I'm insulted," said Stree softly. Paine smiled, then walked over to Rikku.

"You ready to go?" he asked Kam. When she nodded, Stree turned to the heavy wooden gate that was blocking the entrance to Luca.

"We can go in as soon as we take this wall down," remarked Tidus.

"I can make a goody-pack in a couple of minutes that should take care of it," said Rikku happily.

"My way's quicker," said Stree, stepping in front of the door. "Stand back."

He closed his eyes and focused; an instant later his hands were immersed in flames that he directed towards the gate. Focusing harder than he had before, he willed the flames on his hand to move and wait by the gate, and quickly stepped back. When he was with the rest of the group, he squeezed his hand closed. The fireball exploded, shooting pieces of fire and wood everywhere, and causing howls and screams from inside.

"Tidus, lead the charge," said Stree. "They like you, they know you, they'll follow you," he quickly said upon seeing the look of shock on the blonde's face. Shrugging, Tidus turned to face the rest of the crowd.

"They took our town! Let's get it back! Move!" he shouted at the top of his voice, then bolted into Luca. He got a few meters, and realized that no one was following him. "Uhh, what's wrong?" he asked. But they wee all looking at Stree.

"He he. Looks like you were wrong, brother," said Kam quietly as they both noticed the looks. "They want to follow you."

"I was afraid of that," said Stree, though he was smiling at Tidus all on his own twenty meters away. "What do I say?"

"What's right," she replied.

Stree stood up slowly and took a good look at the crowd around him.

"When we go in there, a lot of us are going to get hurt. Some of us might even die. I pray that that won't happen, but if it does, I'm willing to pay the price to ensure freedom and life for everyone else. That town belongs to you people! Not the Fiends! We're going to take it back, and if they want to keep it, they'll have to make sure they take down every last one of us!"

He turned and pointed at the gate to Luca with the Hasamune.

"Now let's take them out!" he cried at the top of his voice. The people surrounding his roared in approval, and Stree led the charge through the entrance.

The battle for Luca had begun.


	31. The Battle for Luca

As Yojimbo watched the battle unfold from his perch on top of the sphere pool support structure, he couldn't help but feel frustrated with how little help he was. He watched with pride as Stree fought his way through the city, stopping every so often to help a wounded civilian (that in itself a miracle), and wished he was down there, rather than just observing. He felt, rather than saw, a flash behind him, and turned around to face himself. A darker version, but still him.

"Hello, Brother," said Yojimbo.

The dark version of himself smiled. "Hello yourself. You're looking well, if slightly unarmed," he laughed.

Yojimbo smiled back. "Why shouldn't I be? I'm untouchable. If I die, you die, so none of your beasts can kill me, unless you want to risk yourself."

The smile disappeared from the dark ones face. "Just remember brother, someday I shall find a way to sever ties with you completely, then you shall be prey."

"And on that day I shall worry. But for now, let us enjoy the show."

"Yes we shall. But look. It appears that your pupil is about to face mine," laughed the Dark Yojimbo.

Stree ran through the burning streets of Luca, acting purely on reflex, ducking and sliding, then attacking when one of the many monsters jumped out from corners. Kam and Tidus, followed by the rest of his companions, were just barely keeping up as he cut through swathes of monsters with little effort. This continued up until the group ran into the blitzball theatre, when a group of monsters ambushed them and started attacking en masse. Stree was pressed down by two Behemoths as hundreds of Fangs, Vultures and any other Fiend he could name ran past to attack the rest of the group. Screams filled Stree's ears as the farmers and merchants that had come to fight were cut down through the fury of the beasts. He doubled his efforts, and had managed to kill one of the Behemoths when he heard Yuna scream out "No!" at the top of her voice. He slit the beast's throat and turned around to find all of his close companions surrounded by fiends, cut off from each other. He looked to see what Yuna had screamed about, and saw Kimarhi kneeling on the ground, holding his hand against his chest. Stree watched in horror as a Malboro lashed out with a vicious tentacle, cutting right through the Ronso's back. Another scream pierced the air, and Stree turned around to see a Couerl walking toward a weaponless Kam. Off to the right two more farmers were killed by the Malboro and it turned to kill more. Stree was stuck, and had to choose. He desperately wanted to save his sister, but another part of him wanted revenge on the beast that had caused so much destruction. His feeling clashed inside him, exploding inside him as they battles for supremacy. Finally his emotions burst out of him and a flash lit up the entire arena. His need to help Kam won, and he bolted over to her, completely dismembering the Couerl. He turned to ask Kam if she was alright, but stopped when he saw that she was staring in another direction. He turned to see what she was looking at, and felt his jaw drop. He looked across the arena floor and saw himself ripping apart the Malboro, using only his electrified dragon-tooth knife. Stree put his hand to where the knife should be and found it empty.

"What the?" exclaimed Yojimbo. "Humans can't split their personalities! That isn't possible!"

Dark Yojimbo laughed loudly. "Well, Brother, looks like you forgot something when you imbued him with your power. You not only gave him the tools to try, and I emphasize try, to defeat me, but you also gave him a way to create his own worst enemy!"

"No. This shouldn't have happened. I have to help him!" shouted Yojimbo.

"How?" asked Dark Yojimbo in between gasps of laughter. "Kill the other? That will kill him too. He's in the same boat as I am now!"

_What the hell is going on here_? He thought and the other him stopped, turned around and stared at him. Everything went quiet. Even the Fiends had stopped attacking and were silent. The other Stree started walking towards the centre of the room, and motioned for Stree to come as well. Stree obliged and walked to the meet himself. He stopped a few feet away, and watched the other him. He noticed that the other version of him was glaring at him. Suddenly, so fast that it was like a blur, the other version of Stree threw the daggers at Stree's feet, giving him an open challenge for battle. Stree didn't take his eyes off the other man, realizing that this was the man from his vision. This man would kill all he cared about if given the chance. But Stree couldn't just murder him.

"Sorry. I don't fight unarmed men," he said. The other version laughed and held out his hand. Dark flames danced around it for a second, then stretched out into a long-dangerous-looking sword. "Fine," said Stree, bringing his own sword to the ready. "Have it your way."

"You can't let them fight each other! If one kills the other, they both die!" said Yojimbo in frustration.

Dark Yojimbo laughed and replied, "that doesn't bother me, if Kry'tal dies, I don't have to bother with beating him myself. Either way, the problem is out of my hands."

Yojimbo growled, and pushed the darker self away, preparing to jump the incredible distance from his perch to where the two versions of Stree were fighting.

"No you don't, brother," said the dark version, grabbing Yojimbo before he could make any further moves. "They will fight their own battles."

Tidus watched, just as shocked as anyone else when he saw the two different versions of Stree run at each other. Sparks and flames shot through the air and they each danced around the other, anticipating each other's moves and acting accordingly. Even the Fiends had stopped moving and settled down to watch as the two versions of the same person battled with a ferocity that had to be seen to be believed. The only people who could make out clearly what was happening were Tidus, who desperately wanted to help, and Auron, who seemed reluctant to step in. Suddenly, Dark Stree blocked a shot, then whirled around and kicked Stree in the chest, launching him across the square in which they were fighting to smash through a heavy wooden wall! Black flames flared up on the dark ones arm, which he then threw out in a column that pushed Stree further into the wall! Seething with fury, the Dark man screamed, and the flames burned harder! Stree started to yell in agony as flames started to burn through his armor. Everyone was yelling and screaming for help, but the noise surrounding Tidus seemed to lessen, and a thumping noise from behind him started to get louder. He turned around and realized that they had been fighting right outside of his house. Seemingly unable to stop himself, he opened the front door and walked in to find the source of the thumping. He walked into his living room, and found the blade Wakka had given him so long ago, the Brotherhood, banging around on the floor. He picked it up, and it started to glow. Water erupted from the top of it, soaking Tidus from head to toe. Smiling suddenly, Tidus turned and bolted out the front door to where Stree and Dark Stree were.

Stree had gotten out of the flames and was fighting in close quarters again, trying desperately to get a shot in, but the dark version o himself was to fast, and too strong. Every strike that Stree made, his dark self blocked, then returned with three of his own. Stree's lungs were still burning from the roasting that he had received, and his reflexes had slowed down due to the running fight through Luca. He knew he couldn't keep up with his doppelganger, but he knew he couldn't let it win either. Seeing an opening, Stree cut low to his other half's knees, trying to hamstring him, but the dark one jumped it, grabbed Stree's ankle and tripped him to the ground. Stree tried to get up, but was pushed to the ground again by his dark self, who raised his own weapon to deliver the finishing touch to Stree.

Then suddenly, everything turned blue.

Ever since he had first started learning black magic from Lulu, Yuna and others, he found that he was able to use water magic a lot easier than any other. When he asked Lulu why, she said it was because of his love, or "obsession", as she referred to it, of Blitzball. Honestly, Tidus never really cared why, but he loved being able to do it. It was one of his strongest attacks, so when he launched the Waterga attack, he wasn't surprised when it knocked Dark Stree away. He quickly moved over to help Stree up, and noticed that steam was coming off him in large amounts. When Stree got up, he looked at Tidus from the corner of his eye, and hissed, "What are you doing? This thing could kill you!"

Tidus turned to face Stree. "I know we've had about a Farplane's worth of problems, Stree, but you're still my brother. I'm not letting anything kill you if I can help it."

Stree narrowed his eyes. "Well then, thanks. But that doesn't mean I forgive you."

"Doesn't have to," replied Tidus, turning to face the growling doppelganger.

"Remember last time we did the Fire and Water thing?" asked Stree, smiling slightly.

"Yep. I'm hoping it'll turn out better this time, though. Water tends to have more of a reaction on land than it doesn't when surrounded by water," laughed Tidus. "You know, I guess this puts an end to your history of being really single minded."

Stree laughed, and with that, the two brothers charged forward.


End file.
